Birthday Traditions 7
by Kate McCaye
Summary: This year, the party is a trip. Set after Chimera, before Death Knell. SJ UST.
1. Two Mouseketeers

Title: Birthday Traditions 7

Author: Kate McCaye

Rating: T

Category: Humor/General

Pair: S/J UST

Setting: Season 7 after 'Chimera,' before 'Death Knell'

Summary: Year 7 of the "Birthday Traditions" series. This year the party is a trip.

A/N: Pete unfortunately exists in this story but does not actually appear. I'm saving that one for Year 8. I want this one to be primarily about a happily reunited SG1, with a bit of S/J stuff on the side. Also, I am posting this with much less of it already written than I normally do. I think this will encourage me to write it faster, if I know people are waiting for the next part.

Ch 1: Two Mouseketeers

Sam looked up from her microscope, smiling in anticipation as she heard Daniel's footprints approaching. Although he had been back with them for many months now, and now had all of his memories back from before his ascension, she still considered it a minor miracle every time she saw him.

"Hey, Sam, I brought you some coffee," Daniel said as he filled the doorframe, holding a steaming cup in each hand.

"Thanks. Any idea what the Colonel wanted to see us about?" Sam asked as Daniel set her coffee down next to her and took a seat on the stool across from her.

"No. Although since our birthday is two and a half weeks away, it could be about that," Daniel commented. "Speaking of which, you're not going to want to bring Pete, are you?" he added with a slight whine.

He had gone into full-out annoying-little-brother mode about Pete, despite the fact that none of SG-1 had really even met the guy. They had stayed clear of him for his entire stay in the infirmary, and Sam had always been very careful to keep Pete completely separate from the rest of her life, which wasn't very hard since he conveniently lived in Denver.

Sometimes Sam still found it hard to believe that Janet, Cassie, Daniel, and even Teal'c were making such a big deal out of her dating somebody. But even more unbelievable than their overreaction had been the Colonel's... under-reaction? Was that a word? Well, it was now. He hadn't done anything but basically clap her on the back and tell her 'way to go!' After all that had happened between them, she would have expected him to say _something. _

"Sam? You didn't answer me yet. I know it's your birthday so you should get what you want, but it's my birthday too and these parties are really important to Jack as well, so I really don't think it's fair to..."

"Daniel! Geez, relax!" Sam exclaimed. It wasn't even that serious! Pete lived in Denver, forcryinout... for Pete's sake... crap! She really, really needed some new internal dialogue. Sam let out a frustrated noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl, and smiled sweetly at Daniel. "No, Daniel, I don't want to bring Pete. This is our thing."

"Oh. Okay then. Thanks. Good." He gave her the apologetic puppy look and she sighed dramatically.

"You practice that in front of a mirror, don't you?" she asked.

"No," he dead-panned. "I practice it in front of Teal'c."

Sam laughed, imagining Daniel practicing his puppy dog look, then Teal'c taking a turn practicing raising his eyebrows. Daniel laughed with her, and Jack walked into the lab whistling "It's a Small World After All."

They both turned to look at him, and Daniel said, "Didn't General Hammond order you not to whistle that anymore, after you got it stuck in General Jumper's head last time he was here?"

"Do you see any Generals around here, Danny boy?" Jack asked lightly.

"Well, no..."

"Are you going to run and tattle to Hammond?"

"It's tempting, but no, I suppose not."

"Carter? What about you?"

"No, sir," she said, unable to keep the smile off her face. She had so missed watching Daniel and her CO verbally spar.

"Good. Well, kids, I came here to announce that you both have next week off."

"What!" They both exclaimed.

"I seem to recall that you have a trip to Disney World to take."

Sam resisted the impulse to throw her arms around her CO's neck, which wasn't something generally done by Majors in the USAF. Instead, she settled for clearing her throat and said reluctantly, "Sir, that's a very thoughtful idea, but I really don't think this is the best time for us to take a vacation. With everything happening with Anubis and the super soldiers..."

"I can't believe you got to name those guys," Jack grumbled, sitting down on the stool next to Daniel.

"Jack, Sam's right. We _are _way overdue for our trip to Disney World, but this really is a bad time."

"It's always going to be a bad time with you two, Danny," Jack said, waving a hand. "That's why you should go now. Look, this Anubis thing is... it could get real bad. Whatever ends up happening, I don't want you guys to miss doing this. Plus, you're both still on light duty anyway from you getting shot in the leg," he said, pointing at Daniel, "And," he continued, pointing at Carter, "From your bump on the head when you were stuck on Prometheus. AND none of us has anything scheduled for off-world until two weeks from now when you're going to the Alpha site with your dad to play with your new space gun."

Sam opened her mouth to correct him about her 'space gun,' which was actually an impressive prototype that modified the TERs so that, hopefully, they would be effective against the super soldiers; she didn't get a chance to talk because Jack continued.

"I know you're both concerned about our apparent impending doom, but come on. There's no time like the present, right? And Hammond agrees with me, he's already approved it."

"Really?" they asked together.

"Yup. So here's what I'm thinking. You two take off next Monday for some super-geek-type bonding or whatever it is that you do..."

"Sir," Carter objected mildly.

"And T, Cass, the doc and I will meet you down there for the weekend to celebrate your birthday. Cassie and Teal'c have never been to Disney World."

"Wow, you've really planned this whole thing out already?" Daniel commented, surprised.

"Yup. So go pack your bags, Musketeers."


	2. Tubby Time

A/N: I'm glad everyone seems to like the Disney World idea, as it was getting much harder to think of new and not ridiculously dumb things for them to do for a party. So, I remembered I had an unused trip lying around conveniently and figured the change of scene would be refreshing. This story is not going to become an advertisement for Disney World, however - it's still mainly just going to be about our guys. I liked getting people's opinions on The Pete Issue, in this story and in previous ones. I decided to split it up, basically: in this one it is more the idea of Pete affecting everyone, since he and Sam aren't serious at this point. Then in 8, we'll bring him in and have lots of angsty fun with that. Also, for the person who was worried about Janet in this story - it's before Death Knell, so it's before Heroes, so Janet is going to be fine. I didn't want to have two years in a row dealing with someone being gone. Plus I am in even more denial about Janet's death than I am about Pete's... Pete-ness.

Ch 2: Tubby time

Sam and Daniel quickly got over their reluctance to leave the SGC about an hour after arriving at Disney World. They were staying at a place called the Wilderness Lodge, which was in the Magic Kingdom. The room they were sharing was huge, with two beds and a big patio that had a gorgeous view. They quickly embraced the infectious childlike enthusiasm of the place and the days flew by.

Jack had been right, they all did need a break, now more than ever. They spent two full days at Epcot, knowing that nobody else would find it as interesting as they did. They scouted out some things they thought Jack, Teal'c, Cassie, and Janet would especially like, and then just wandered around, stopping at whatever interested them at the moment.

The night before the rest of the group was scheduled to arrive the following day, they retired to their room after dinner, both exhausted from days of trying to see as many different things as possible, and walking all over the place. Sam was lying on her stomach, stretched out across her bed, thumbing through one of the countless brochures that lived in the room, trying to figure out which restaurants they should steer everyone towards.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Daniel announced.

Sam smiled. "You mean a bath," she said mildly. For some reason Daniel was embarrassed about the fact that he, like Sam, enjoyed relaxing in a long, hot bath.

"Shut up," Daniel muttered, tossing a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh at her head as he went to the bathroom.

Sam laughed and called, "Don't forget your rubber ducky!"

Her cell phone rang. She grabbed it off the night stand and flipped it open. "Carter," she said into the phone with a big yawn.

"You answer the phone weird."

"Who is this?" Sam asked, frowning. She was so tired.

"Sam, it's Pete."

"Oh. Hi Pete."

"I just wanted to make sure we were still on for this weekend."

"Huh?" It was her birthday. She wouldn't make plans with him. She was ninety-five percent sure he didn't know when her birthday was. She'd never told him, so unless he'd asked Mark (which would be pretty weird,) he didn't know it.

"Remember, I said I was going to try to get a weekend off before the end of the month and come see you?"

"Oh, right."

"Well, you're on Earth, right, unless your cell phone gets really good reception..." he laughed at his own joke.

Sam cringed and said, "Yes, I'm on Earth but I'm not in Colorado."

Daniel chose that moment to reappear from the bathroom holding her bra. He shot it across the room at her like a slingshot, making his yuck-face.

"Daniel, you're going to stretch it out!" she objected, scrambling to pick it up. It was her FAVOURITE, he couldn't just use them as slingshots!

"Well, don't leave it on the floor when you're sharing a bathroom then," Daniel insisted. He frowned when he noticed she was on the phone.

"We don't have to go home, do we?" he asked, worried.

"No, everything's fine. It's just Pete." Daniel made his yuck-face again and retreated back to the bathroom, slamming the door.

Sam put the phone back to her ear, realizing Pete was still talking, asking her a bunch of questions. She held the phone out until he stopped and calmly explained, "Daniel and I are on vacation, Pete. We're at Disney World."

"Together? Alone?"

"Till tomorrow. Everyone's meeting us around dinner time for the weekend."

"Oh." He sounded very disappointed. Sam felt slightly guilty about that, but what did he expect? This was a tradition. Not that Pete knew that. But still.

"Sam, look... I don't mean to sound jealous or anything, but from what I just heard it sounds like you and Daniel are... sharing a room."

"We are," Sam said, puzzled. What was his problem?

"But... Daniel's... I thought you were just friends..."

"We are, Pete. Very close friends. Which is why sharing a hotel room isn't a problem. It's a lot roomier than a tent, you know."

"I suppose. So... you had this vacation planned for a long time?"

"Sort of. I gave him the tickets for our birthday a couple of years ago but we were too busy at work to use them." She paused and took a deep breath. She hadn't told Pete about Daniel quasi-dying, and wasn't about to get into that story tonight, when all she was thinking about was being jealous of Daniel in that huge tub. He'd be in there forever and she'd NEVER get to use it. "Colonel O'Neill finally got tired of us not using it and sent us packing."

"Colonel O'Neill got you to take a vacation," Pete stated.

"Yeah, he practically packed our bags and dragged us to the airport. Why?"

"Nothing," Pete mumbled. There was an awkward silence. "Sorry, Sam, it's just kind of weird to me that all of your friends are men..." Pete started.

"Not all of them! There's Janet... and her daughter..."

"Yeah. It's not like I don't trust you or anything, it's just... you spend so much time with them, and I haven't seen you since that weekend..."

Daniel stuck his head out of the bathroom to see if Sam was still on the phone. "Daniel, stop being a pain in the ass and go get in the bath!" Sam said, throwing the stuffed animal at him.

He dodged it, and, being Daniel, had obviously guessed the nature of her phone call because he said, very loudly, "Sam, the tub's all ready, I found both our rubber duckies. Come get in before all the bubbles are gone!"

She glared at him and he disappeared behind the door, laughing his archaeological ass off. She could hear the door lock from across the room. Yeah, you'd better hide, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the door. Pete was now silent on the other end of the phone. "Ignore him, he's just trying to piss me off," Sam said absently.

"Oh."

More awkward silence. Wow. Fun. Sam tried to think of a way to get off the phone and Pete, obviously fishing for something to say, asked, "Did you say you gave Daniel the tickets for 'our' birthday?"

"Oh, yeah. We have the same birthday. One of those funny coincidences, you know? Colonel O'Neill calls us the science twins. It's kind of become a thing."

"Oh. What day?"

"Sorry?"

"What day is your birthday?"

"Friday."

"That's... tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know. That's why everyone else is coming down here..." she yawned loudly. "Look, I'm really tired, we've been running around all week long, and keeping up with Daniel when he's full of coffee _and _sugar is not easy. I better get to bed."

"Okay, Sam. Well... Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Pete. Night."

She hung up the phone and stomped over to the bathroom, hoping Daniel could hear the noise and that it wouldn't wake up some elderly couple or a woman with five kids all sleeping in the room beneath theirs. She banged on the door and said, "That wasn't funny, Daniel!"

"Oh yes it was!" he called back in a sing-song voice.

Sam laughed quietly. It _was_ pretty funny. Not that she'd ever admit it to him. Mostly, it was just good to have all of SG-1 back in once piece.

When Daniel finally emerged from the bathroom, he was relaxed but not sleepy. That much was obvious by the enthusiastic way he landed himself on his bed. He turned on his side so that he faced her and said, "So, how's Pete?"

"Fine. What is your problem with him anyway?"

"You know what my problem with him is," Daniel said mildly, getting under his covers.

"Daniel... just... I have my reasons, okay. I'm just trying to be... normal."

"You're not normal, Sam. You're special. Way too special for Pete. He's boring."

"Some people think you're boring," Sam pointed out.

"Some people are dumb," he said with a shrug. "I just don't want you to... settle. For anybody."

"Daniel, I just started dating the guy, it's not like we're getting married or anything! Why is this such a big deal to everyone?"

"You know the answer to that one too. Look, I don't want to pick a fight tonight. It's our last night alone together, and I've liked the talks we've been having."

"Me too," Sam agreed, flipping off her lamp so that only Daniel's lit the room. She turned on her side to face him on the bed three feet from hers. "What do you want to talk about tonight?"

"I wondered... if you'd tell me about last year?"

"That's what we've been doing all along..."

"No, I mean... our birthday. Last year. What happened? Teal'c told me you didn't have a party, but your dad took everyone out for lunch the day after your birthday... but that was all he said. And Jack just grunted, 'She got through it like Carter always does' and changed the subject."

Sam smiled and said, "They told you the truth then."

"Come on, Sam... it's weird enough as it is... I mean I'm celebrating a birthday that's for one year more than I feel like I am. Please. I want to know what I missed. I hate that I wasn't there with you."

"I know," Sam said quietly. "Okay. I'll tell you about it. I was... scared... as it got closer. Trying to figure out how I was going to feel... knowing it would be just a really crappy day no matter what... the Colonel suggested I stay home even though it was a work day, so people wouldn't be looking at me funny and everything. So I did. I couldn't sleep the night before, barely all week. I went running a lot. Morgan brought me breakfast and a balloon. The Colonel had paid him off in cookies. Cassie came over and we did the albums. The Colonel showed up with a bunch of food and Maggie, and kept me company."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that he was... perfect that night. You know how he usually is about grief and feelings, Daniel. And with you it was... so bad. He shut everyone out. He missed you _so _much. And I know that was his way and I finally got over it, but I guess because it was our birthday and he knew how important that had been to both of us, he... he did everything right. He had a cake and he had hats for Quarks and Maggie... then he suggested a few things but what I really wanted to do was just... drink until I could sleep. Without dreaming. So. We did."

"Oh God."

"Yeah. We drank way too much. I got really sick. We went to sleep. In the morning I got up feeling fine because I had already thrown up the night before, so I took Mags out for a run. When I came back, everyone was in the kitchen fighting."

"Oh no..."

"Yup, see the Colonel has these shorts Feretti gave him..."

Sam filled Daniel in on the rest of the story and they were both laughing into their pillows by the time she was done. "... and then my dad stayed for the rest of the week, and I don't think he let me out of his sight the entire time! AND he popped my balloon with a salad fork!"

Daniel laughed quietly, and after he settled down he got a thoughtful look on his face. "What?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. Sometimes I feel like... I have a memory I just can't get to. Like when you know you just walked into a room to do _something, _but you can't remember what."

"You think you remember something else from when you were ascended?"

"Maybe... I just keep thinking there's something else important. Something I learned that night... I mean I can't say for sure but I know that if it was possible, I would have come to see you."

"You would have?"

"Of course."

"But... you visited everybody but me," Sam said quietly.

"I know," Daniel said sadly. "Sam, I know that hurt you, when you found out that I had shown up to Teal'c and Jack but not to you. And I wish I had a real explanation for you..."

"It's okay. You don't remember any of it, I understand..."

"I know. But I thought about it a lot, and the only thing that makes sense to me now is that... I must have known you didn't need me."

"Daniel that's just stupid. I needed you more than either of them did..."

"No you didn't, Sam. Because you were keeping me alive by yourself already, weren't you?"

"Yes," she admitted reluctantly.

"And the only person more succinct than Jack is Teal'c. And that's on a good day. Additionally, Sam, you're the strongest person I know."

"Daniel..."

"No, I mean it. Jack, Teal'c, and I all have certain strengths, but you, you're like a perfect combination of all three of us. And then some. You didn't deny your feelings, and you were strong enough to deal with everything on your own. Sam. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, but I know without a doubt that if you had really needed me, I would have been there. You have to believe me."

"I do," she said quietly.

"Good. I also suspect you would have been harder to walk away from than Jack or Teal'c, so there may have been some self-preservation going on on my part too. But that's just a guess."

"Daniel."

"What?"

"I'm so glad you're back now."

"Me too, Sam. Let's go to sleep so we can get up in time for those Mickey Mouse head waffles again."

"Okay. Night, Daniel."

She looked at the clock and saw that it was after midnight. It was officially their birthday. "Happy birthday."

He smiled. "Happy birthday back."


	3. The Gang's All Here

Ch 3: The Gang's All Here

Sam and Daniel were due to meet everyone in the lobby of their hotel Friday evening, which also happened to be their birthday. They had decided it would be funny to embarrass Jack by meeting them dressed head to toe in Disney souvenirs. They had also already purchased several gifts for everyone.

So it was that when Jack O'Neill, bags slung over each shoulder, led the rest of his crew into the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge, he was met with the site of his scientists, grinning ear to ear and waving everyone over. Daniel was wearing a Toy Story tee-shirt, Carter's shirt had some fairy thing... he squinted and read the script below the picture. Tinkerbell? What in the hell was a Tinkerbell? And both of them were sporting the traditional Mickey Mouse club ears, each with their names airbrushed on. They looked incredibly cute, in a slightly ridiculous 'thirty-something adults regressed to small children' sort of way.

Even Cassie, who had been even more moody than usual the whole trip so far, laughed and bounced over to them, smiling, and threw her arms around both of them.

Teal'c was wearing a plain knit cap to cover his Apophis symbol, and when he saw Sam and Daniel's mouse hats, he said quietly to Jack, "Will I be required to wear one of those as well, O'Neill?"

Jack laughed, picturing that, and said, "I doubt they make them big enough for you, T."

Janet, next to him, said, "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Colonel," as they all went to meet Daniel and Sam, who were already telling Cassie about what they had been up to.

"Well, looks like you kids have been having fun," Jack commented, smiling at them both.

"Yes, sir!" Carter said brightly. "And we already have picked out some things we think each of you will want to see, and don't worry, sir, we already did Epcot by ourselves so you won't have to go to any science or history exhibits and..."

"Carter!" he barked, but he was smiling. "How about you let us get checked in first. And Doc, maybe you should do a drug test on those two," he added over his shoulder as he headed to the counter.

Janet shook her head. The man really appeared to think he had them all fooled. Sure, he acted grumpy and all, but he was the one who had organized all of this, and it hadn't been easy to get Hammond to let them all go, even for the weekend.

After everyone got settled in their rooms (Cassie and Janet were across the hall, whereas Jack and Teal'c were right next door,) everyone crowded into Sam and Daniel's room, which was looking quite cluttered after five days of using it to dump their things off and grab some sleep.

Daniel and Sam, still wearing their mouse ears, were huddled over a bag of things with their backs to everyone. Jack looked to Janet for an explanation, but she just shrugged, happy to see how relaxed two of the SGC's most over-worked people had become.

"Okay, since you guys don't have as long here as we have, we did some souvenir shopping for you all," Daniel said.

"First, we got everyone hats..." Sam began, passing Minnie Mouse ears to Janet and Cassie with their names on them.

Both women thanked them and obediently put their hats on. Jack eyed the bag warily. Daniel and Sam exchanged looks and laughed. "We didn't think we'd get you into one of those, Colonel, so we got you this one instead," Sam said, handing him a baseball cap.

It was dark grey, almost black, and said "Grumpy" on the front. On the back there was a tiny embroidered Grumpy dwarf in the middle. "It was Daniel's idea!" Sam said defensively as Jack looked back and forth between the two of them and Cassie and Janet laughed.

"Hey! You're the one who pointed it out in the first place!" Daniel countered.

"Only because you wanted to get him that big one with the floppy ears!" Sam reminded.

"Okay, kids, don't make me call time-out," Jack interrupted, putting the hat on and shaping it with his hands. "Thank you. Both."

"So, Teal'c, we got this one for you," Sam said, handing him a hat that was modeled after the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. It was bright purple and nearly two feet tall.

"What, he doesn't stick out in a crowd enough already?" Jack asked as Teal'c swapped it for the hat he had been wearing already.

"Thank you," Teal'c said politely.

"Yeah. Oh, Cassie, we got you a stuffy too..." Sam said quickly, digging into the bag and pulling out a Piglet. "I know you're really too old for them, but..."

"I still like them," Cassie assured her. "Thanks."

"Well, okay, since tonight is officially your birthday, everyone go get cleaned up and changed for dinner, because we have reservations at eight!" Jack said suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Where?" Janet asked him as they all dispersed.

"Disney World," he replied vaguely, shooing her out the door.

"Very informative," they heard Janet say sarcastically as Jack shut the door, leaving them alone to get dressed for dinner.

An hour later Daniel answered the loud knocking on the door. It was Teal'c and Jack, both dressed smartly for dinner. Teal'c was wearing a black beret, black trousers, and a bright red silk shirt. Daniel stared at him, his mouth hanging open, as they walked past him and made themselves comfortable.

"Daniel, what do you think of Teal'c's duds?" Jack asked with a smirk, knowing it would put Daniel in an awkward position.

"Very... very um, very nice, Teal'c," Daniel said, giving him two thumbs up. Teal'c smiled and tilted his head slightly, leaning against the dresser. Jack, who was out of Teal'c's line of vision, since he had immediately made himself comfortable by stretching out on top of the closest bed, crossing his ankles and leaning against the headboard with his linked fingers cradling the back of his head, gave Daniel the 'o-kay' sign and winked dramatically.

"Carter, what's taking so long?" he suddenly barked at the closed bathroom door.

"I'll be ready in a minute, sir!" Sam called.

"Jack," Daniel said with a long-suffering sigh.

"What, Daniel?"

"This is a vacation, maybe it would be nice if you didn't bark orders at her and call her 'Carter.'"

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Well, I'm starving."

"You know Sam will be ready way before Janet and Cassie though, so why rush her?" Daniel pressed.

Jack shrugged, picked up the phone, and called the Fraiser's room. "Doc! Ten minute warning!"

Sam came out of the bathroom dressed for dinner in a simple, long skirt and lightweight sweater. "I'm ready."

"Not quite," Jack called, holding out Sam and Daniel's birthday hats for them. They looked at each other and shrugged. He had made them wear them at O'Malley's, so they weren't surprised he wanted them to wear them at Disney World, where they might blend in a bit better, even at night.

Janet and Cassie passed their ten minute warning, so everyone trooped across the hall to prod them along. "Jack, where are we going?" Cassie asked as they headed down to the lobby. "I was looking at the brochures in the room, there are about a million restaurants here."

"Well, we're going to one of them. That everyone will like. I think."

Sam and Daniel looked at each other in surprise when he led the group towards the trolley that went to Epcot. "Sir, are you sure this is the right one?" Carter asked.

"Yup. Hop on."

Everyone spent the short ride ganging up on Jack, trying to guess which restaurant they were going to. He surprised them all as he led them to the Coral Reef Restaurant.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Cassie exclaimed as they went inside. The restaurant was effectively underwater. There were glass windows everywhere that allowed the guests to see all kinds of tropical fish swimming around them while they ate.

"It's like a bubble," Sam said happily as they sat down.

"This is indeed most interesting, O'Neill. Excellent choice."

"Thanks," Jack said as the waiter, whose nametag identified him as 'Clark,' passed menus around and told them about the specials.

"And I take it you two are our guests with birthdays this evening," the waiter said, smiling at Sam and Daniel's hats. "Is today your actual birthday, both of you?"

Sam and Daniel nodded and Daniel started to say something, but the waiter continued in the extremely happy tone all the waiters they had met all week had used. "Well, this is my second twin birthday party today, actually, although I'm betting you two won't be wanting bibs and booster seats."

Everyone laughed except for Teal'c and Jack. Jack restrained from rolling his eyes with great difficulty. Sam started to tell the waiter that they weren't twins but Daniel slung an arm around her shoulder and ruffled her hair before she could say anything other than, "Daniel, get off!"

While they joked around, Jack gave the waiter everyone's drink orders and got some appetizers. Cassie, who thought the waiter was rather cute, frowned at Jack when he ordered her a Shirley Temple without asking. "Actually, I'd rather just have a soda," she interrupted, smiling at the waiter. He nodded and returned the smile.

Jack looked at Cassie sternly. She had been in a bad mood off and on since they left for the airport, for whatever reason, and he wasn't about to have her mess up Sam and Daniel's birthday weekend by ditching them for some waiter. Jack had noticed that Cassie had barely spoken to Sam at all, and he had noticed Sam notice too.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit old for Shirley Temples now," Cassie said, smiling sweetly at Jack and finding herself incapable of resisting the urge to add an even sweeter, "Grampa."

"Cassie!" Janet scolded. Sam and Daniel, who had been wrestling with Sam's tiara (Sam was trying to get Daniel to wear it) looked over to see what everyone else was talking about.

Jack cleared his throat and smiled at the waiter. "Clark, are there any sharks in your aquarium, by any chance, because I'd like to donate some bait." Clark laughed and went to fetch their drinks.

While they admired the restaurant and argued amiably over which types of fish they were spotting, everyone ate and mostly listened to Sam and Daniel talk about everything they had been doing that week. After the delicious meal, several waiters brought out a big Mickey and Minnie mouse cake that Jack had to call ahead and arrange two days in advance. The waiters and everyone at the table sang Happy Birthday to Sam and Daniel, and everyone in the restaurant applauded loudly.

While everyone ate their cake, Cassie chatted with Clark a bit, and he told her there would be a spectacular fireworks display just outside in a little while. He told her how to get to a really good spot where they would be able to sit and see the whole show without being really crowded.

So everyone followed Cassie as she led them to the spot Clark had told her about after they left the restaurant. Sam and Daniel, Jack was starting to think, had been grinning for so long their faces must have stuck that way. As they walked down the street, which was crowded with people milling about waiting for the fireworks to start, they surrounded Jack and thanked him again for dinner and for arranging the vacation in the first place.

He shrugged and waved it away. "Those of us who've been at work all week are pretty beat though, kids."

"We don't have to stay long at the fireworks," Daniel said with a shrug. "They do them every night. But the ones at Epcot are different, right, Sam?"

"I think so," Sam agreed.

"No, we can stay as long as you guys want, but Teal'c was talking about getting up really early tomorrow. He's got a list of characters he wants to find."

"Are you serious, sir?" Sam asked, giggling as she glanced at Teal'c, who was a few steps ahead of them.

"Yeah, he and Cassie spent most of the trip reading a book about Disney World or something. He wants to find all seven dwarves, and Chip and Dale."

"We saw Chip and Dale," Daniel said, quickening his pace to catch up to Teal'c and tell him about seeing the chipmunks.

Sam was giving him one of those huge grins, and it was making Jack slightly nervous. "What?" he finally asked. "Do I have cake on my face or something?"

"No, sir. I'm just really, really glad we're all here."


	4. Can't have Disney without Fireworks

A/N: It seems like all I did this weekend was write like a crazy person. Obviously this story is fiction. Obviously Disney World is real. But our guys are going to be zipping around the park much faster than you'd normally be able to do. Just imagine the long lines of children running away when they see Teal'c coming or something. Please do not attempt to use this story as a guide to Disney World.

Thanks for the info, ilovesg1. And Mackenzie Jackson, you are entirely correct. More about that later, of course.

This chapter might be a bit angsty for Disney World, but don't worry, just blame that on Pete as well (see, it's fun to blame things on Pete, isn't it?). Tomorrow will be funfunfun. Special Bonus Round: find all the references to other TV shows and movies.

Ch 4: Can't have Disney without Fireworks

The group found a gently sloping hill and sat down as the fireworks show started. There was a slight chill in the air, as well as the smoky smell of the fireworks display, which was actually, Jack soon discovered, a combination fireworks and light show spectacular that was... well, spectacular. So the Disney people had... aptly named it.

As they all watched, they gradually migrated closer to each other for warmth. Jack glanced to his right and saw that Cassie was ensconced between Teal'c and Janet, and Daniel had sidled right up to Jack without him being any the wiser. If any other man had tried to sit that close to him, Jack wouldn't have tolerated it. Even at Disney World. But since it was his still semi-recently ascended best friend, he decided it was okay.

Jack stalled looking to his left, where he knew Carter was sitting, by turning his face up towards the fireworks again. It was dangerous looking at her these days. Ever since Daniel came back she had been so... different. Daniel had called it 'gung-ho,' which was certainly part of it, but there was also an aspect of calmness that hadn't been there before. At the same time, this past year he had noticed her becoming a lot more dependent and independent at the same time. And he simultaneously loved and hated it.

When she felt like it, she teased Daniel, Teal'c, and even Jack, something she would never have done while they were on duty before. And when she caught him looking at her like he wasn't supposed to, she didn't duck her head anymore. Sometimes she even returned it. He had very nearly missed his plane to South America to go after Daniel and Lee just because of the way she had looked at him and told him to be careful.

She had also made him want to wring her neck several times recently. Not only had she nearly got herself killed in that demented pod-race with Warrick, whilst she was off getting her ya-yas out he had been stuck in diplomatic meetings.

And skipping on off into occupied territory with absolutely zero backup while the gate network was down, with only Felger for company? That had to be the stupidest thing she'd ever done! When he'd bitched about it to Teal'c, Teal'c had said something about it being an increase in confidence in her own abilities. Jack told him to shut up and they had stolen an Al'kesh to go pick her up.

Then she had somehow convinced General Hammond to let her visit Prometheus for some science experiment and got herself stranded with what Fraiser had called, "The worst concussion the SGC has seen to date." Sure, she'd also managed to get herself _out _of two of those three scenarios, and he and T had got her out of the third and snagged an Al'kesh to boot, but just who in the hell did she think she was, running into dangerous situations with total disregard for her own safety? That was supposed to be _his _job, she was the smart one!

Once he started down this train of thought it was very easy to let his mind get close to the biggest problem he'd ever had with her but still hadn't acknowledged out loud. The one that was metaphorically guarded in an Alcatraz-like prison surrounded by an electric fence with barbed wire on top and a pack of guard dogs on an island surrounded by sharks with friggin' laser beams attached to their heads and... yeah. The one he tried not to think about at all costs, basically. The stalker cop whose recent appearance had actually made him miss that damn Martouf and that creepy Narim.

"Jack are you okay?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Yeah, fine, why?" Jack said quickly, putting on a blank look.

"I've just never seen anyone look so... angry... at fireworks before."

"Oh. I was just thinking."

"Oh. I'm going to go get some hot chocolate from that vendor we passed, want some?"

"You? Hot chocolate?"

"Well, if they have coffee... Cassie and Janet are cold..." Daniel leaned forward so he could see Sam past Jack and asked, "You want hot chocolate? Sam? She's as out of it as you were, but she looks cold. I'll be back." Daniel was up and gone before Jack had a chance to offer to help.

Jack finally gave into the temptation to look at her. Daniel was right, she was completely spaced out. It was a quirk he had very nearly forgotten about her: Carter liked fire. Not in a creepy pyro kind of way, but she liked it. He'd known that for over thirty years... well, okay, not really. But he'd first noticed it in 1969, even though it was only about five years ago. But he remembered being surprised around that campfire; it was one of the first times he'd seen her really relaxed, and definitely the first time while on a mission.

And although he preferred not to think about Edora or anything Edora-related if he could help it, that first night with the whole team had really been nice. Sam had been pretty impressed with their meteor shower as well, until they'd all got the scare of a lifetime as they saw how close the rocks were actually getting.

It was a seemingly impossible contradiction that someone whose brain was so full of scientific and military knowledge and technology could watch a firework and light show like the one she was currently so entranced with without reducing it to a series of chemical and physical reactions. But the proof was right there curled up in a little ball next to him. From the look on her face she had no thought in her head at all beyond 'that's cool.' Which was also very cool.

Daniel plopped back down beside him and started passing out drinks. He handed Jack two hot cups with plastic lids. "The one on the left is coffee."

"Thanks."

Jack was reluctant to break Carter out of her little trance but she did look like she was freezing. He set the coffee down carefully and nudged her shoulder with the hot chocolate. "Hot chocolate."

She reached for it absently and he pressed it into her hand and watched her sip at it distractedly for several minutes. Finally, the contrast between the hot drink and how chilly she had become while she wasn't paying attention made her a bit more aware of her surroundings.

She glanced around self-consciously to see how many of the group had noticed how out of it she was, but all she saw was her CO giving her one of his looks. The eye-twinkling one. Last time she saw it she had felt like hell. Actually, she usually felt like hell when she got that look from him.

She looked down at her hot chocolate sheepishly and said, "Sorry I was kind of..."

"I noticed," he said quietly. "Daniel thought you were cold."

"I didn't know I was cold until I was drinking something hot," she mumbled into the cup, taking another sip.

"Are you still cold, we can go... no, maybe not," he corrected himself at the intense look of disappointment that crossed her face at the suggestion. "Well, I didn't think I'd be needing a jacket in Florida. If I had one I'd share."

"While you were still in it?" she surprised both of them by asking.

Jack looked away, at the cup of coffee in his hand. That was two years ago. Things were different now. "Well, it wouldn't really be sharing otherwise," he said lightly.

She laughed and said, "No I suppose not."

Eventually, she went back to looking up at the fireworks display and he did the same. It made his neck twinge a bit looking up at that angle after the uncomfortable airplane seat, but the fireworks were cool enough to make it worth it. Sam inched her way closer to him until their sides touched and she could put her head on his shoulder. He looked down at the top of her head in surprise, but he didn't move.

He sighed slightly. After last year, when Daniel had been gone and it had been just the two of them on her birthday, he kind of thought he had her pretty well figured out; that they were on the same page, even though neither of them had ever really talked about the thing between them. Still, he felt like they didn't need to, and in fact talking would be completely counterproductive until they were at a point where they could do whatever the hell they wanted.

Then this whole stupid Shanahan thing came out of nowhere... although, if he thought about it fairly, she had been acting differently before Shanahan already, so it wasn't really _entirely _the stupid cop's fault. Something else had changed first; and while that had maybe led to Shanahan, for her to come to a point where she actually let her brother fix her up with someone clearly showed that something else was really to blame for all this. He knew he'd never ask her what it was though.

She was doing her best to keep Pete completely separate from everything else, and while he sort of thought it was probably a gesture of apology in his direction, he couldn't help but feel like she was smarter than that. She had to know that the fact that there was a Pete in the picture at all changed everything, whether he was actually hanging around much or not. Everyone else clearly understood that, and Sam was smarter than all of them put together!

Still, she had become a lot more friendly and relaxed while they were at work. They were really getting along better than they ever had before. And she told him it wasn't serious with Pete, and he believed her. He let out a frustrated sigh involuntarily.

It was so loud it made Cassie and Daniel both look at him. He shook his head slightly and pretended to turn his attention back to the light show. He'd been through all these thoughts before and they always led back to the exact same place: as long as Sam was pretending Pete was a completely separate thing, he could do that too. It was especially easy when she had her head on his shoulder. This was supposed to be a fun trip, after all. Sam and Daniel were clearly already having a blast. Two seconds after seeing them in the lobby, seeing how happy and relaxed they looked, Jack had known he made the right call convincing Hammond they needed this trip.

The show ended and they all got to their feet, Jack's knees popping loudly. As they walked back to the spot where they could catch their ride back to the hotel, Jack could hear Cassie asking her mom about the fireworks.

Sam moved closer to them in the little moving pack they all made and tried to start offering an explanation about different chemicals and temperatures and whatnot producing different colors. Cassie lost interest quickly, migrated over to Daniel, and started asking him which 'country' he visited at Epcot had been the most accurately represented. Daniel happily launched into a comparative analysis that very nearly put Jack to sleep even though they were still walking.

Sam talked to Janet for a minute and then fell back in step beside Jack, walking fast and looking down at the ground. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, of course," she said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes at all.

"She's... seventeen."

"And good at it," Sam muttered as they got in the vehicle that took them back to the hotel.

The ride, which made several stops, nearly put Jack, Sam, and Janet to sleep. Teal'c never really looked tired, and Cassie and Daniel were still talking, Daniel glad to have such a captivated audience for a change.

"So, what's on the schedule for tomorrow, Carter?" Jack asked as they reached their hotel lobby, trying to get her attention off of Cassie and Daniel.

Sam knew what he was doing but she seized on it gratefully anyway. "Well, Daniel and I picked out some things we think you'll all like... there's something Teal'c is just going to die over..." she got so excited she almost told him what it was, but she glanced at Teal'c and could tell he was listening. "Anyway, we kind of picked one thing we wanted to do with each of you guys, then we thought we could kind of wander around and do what we like, then after a whole day of that, everyone could pick something out themselves to do Sunday before we go home."

"I knew you'd have a plan."

They got off the elevator and walked down the hall to their rooms. "Well, it's not like we designated specific routes or anything but... we wanted you guys to get to see as much as possible while you're here. Seriously, sir, this has been so great... and I'm really glad you all were here today for our actual birthday..."

"Well, the birthday celebration continues throughout the weekend," Jack said mildly. Everyone started saying goodnight outside their respective doors. Sam hugged everyone goodnight and told Daniel she'd be in their room in just a minute. He nodded, said goodnight to Jack, and slipped into their room.

"So our birthday is a week-long holiday now, sir?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Next year, if all goes as planned, the banks will even be closed. And there's talk of a parade too."

She smiled down at the thick carpet.

"Well... if I'm going to be traipsing all over the park after you crazy kids tomorrow I probably should have been in bed an hour ago," Jack said, pulling his hands out of his pockets but hanging them at his side awkwardly. He raised one of them like he was going to touch her, let it drop, and shoved both hands back in his pockets. Then he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Maybe it was slightly more than friendly in nature, but it was hard to make a peck on the cheek very passionate, and truth be told she had received more enthusiastic kisses from Daniel and Janet.

"Happy Birthday, Carter." Jack flashed a smile and had moved next door, swiped his key-card, and disappeared inside before Sam had time to do anything other than stare at him in shock.

What the hell? Was that supposed to be her birthday kiss? Well, that just wouldn't do at all. She thought everything had been so wonderful all night... okay, Cassie was in a really grumpy mood but everyone else seemed to be catching the happy Disney atmosphere fairly easily, dinner had been wonderful, they had even cuddled a little during that magnificent fireworks show... so why all of a sudden was their annual tradition reduced to a light peck on the cheek?

She was seriously entertaining the notion of banging on his door and demanding an explanation for what had just happened. Teal'c already knew about their 'tradition' anyway...

Her own door was yanked open suddenly and Daniel pulled her inside and shut the door. "Sam, what was that about!" he demanded eagerly.

"How did you..."

"Peephole," he admitted with a grin. "Now. Come on, you've got some splainin' to do, young lady!"


	5. Meet me at Pooh Corner

A/N: I know this took a long time to post, but that's because I don't really think it's up to par. I was writing this story on my laptop so I could be all comfortable in bed as I wrote, but I fell asleep one night with the laptop on the bed and accidentally knocked it to the ground... it survived but it is damaged and we're waiting for a new power cord to be delivered, so I had to try to remember what I had already started on this chapter and commandeered our other computer to finish it up. This chapter has been hard for me to write and it was driving me crazy, so I finally just decided to post it and move on to the next one. Anyway, at the end of this chapter everyone sort of splits off into smaller groups, which will make the rest of it much easier to write (that's my plan, at any rate.) My weekend is going to be filled with grading papers, which always fills me with the urge to go write something else to entertain myself, so I'll probably finish this one up over the weekend. Thanks so much for reading.

Ch 5: Meet Me at Pooh Corner

Sam really didn't want to have to explain what Daniel had just seen. Mainly because she had no idea what was going on herself, and she needed to be alone to try to figure it out; she really, really didn't want to stay up all night recounting the previous six years with Daniel.

"Sam... you guys do that every year," Daniel said quietly, as though he were just now realizing it was true even as he said it.

"Wh... how did you know that?" Sam asked sharply.

"I don't know, I just... knew it. It's like... I can see you, last year. Like a picture. You and Jack were in your bed, Quarks and Maggie were there too, asleep. You were about to fall asleep, Jack kissed you, you said 'thank you,' and went to sleep."

"I said thank you when he kissed me?" Sam asked, embarrassed. Jack had never brought _that _up.

"Yeah... wait, you didn't even know that?"

"I was so tired, Daniel..."

"I know. I was... I was there, watching. That sounds really creepy, doesn't it?"

"Yes. If it was anyone else. I can't believe you were there and you didn't let me see you. That's just mean."

"Hey, maybe I just didn't want to interrupt you and Jack making out!"

"We didn't make out," Sam said firmly, crossing her arms.

"But you have," Daniel said in a detached sort of voice. Sam's eyes got even wider. "I can't see the other years but it's like... when I saw you _last _year I got... kind of got a flood of memories... or feelings or whatever... from the other years... you do, don't you? You kiss each other every year at the end of our birthday party. Sam, why didn't you tell me!"

"I... I don't know. We never even talk about it. The Colonel and I, I mean. We started to one year but then we... didn't. Not really, at least."

"So nobody else knows?"

"Well... don't get mad, Daniel, but... Cassie and Teal'c both know already."

"WHAT?"

"It's not like we were excluding you intentionally," Sam said hastily. "Cassie walked in on us the third year, when we were at O'Malley's, and Teal'c... well, I don't know when he first found out but he walked in one us after the big party at Jack's and was not surprised at all."

"Does Janet know?"

"No."

"Well... at least I'm not the _last _person to know," Daniel grumped, sitting down on the foot of his bed. "So... what was with the peck on the cheek in the hall? Judging by your reaction and what I can remember, or have a sense of or whatever, that was the tamest one yet."

"By far," Sam mumbled. "I don't know... he was talking about how the celebration is going on all weekend, so maybe he wants to wait till the end of the weekend..."

"Or maybe that was all you get this year because of Pete," Daniel said matter-of-factly.

Sam's mouth actually dropped open in surprise. "Daniel, are you serious?"

"Well... Sam, come on, even before I remembered I sort of knew about all those other kisses, I was surprised about the whole Pete thing... and Jack's reaction to the whole Pete thing..."

"He hasn't HAD a reaction to Pete, Daniel. That's why I can't believe that's the reason. Only everyone else is making a big deal out of it. And anyway, if we've been disregarding the rules and regulations of the United States Air Force once a year for seven years, I really think that would be a bit of a stronger obstacle than me dating a guy that doesn't even live in the area!"

"Maybe that's not what Jack is thinking," Daniel pointed out. "I think you need to talk to him. Soon."

"But... maybe he just wants to wait until the end of the trip or something, I mean, it's not like the hallway between all three of our rooms is the most discreet place, maybe he was worried about someone seeing..."

"Yeah, maybe," Daniel interrupted, yawning loudly and stretching. "But you still should talk to him."

Sam made a noncommital noise and threw herself face down on her bad quite dramatically. "Or I could just see what kind of a mood he's in tomorrow and go from there," she said, speaking directly into her pillow.

Daniel couldn't understand her but she seemed to be speaking to herself anyway, so he just turned the lamp by his bed off and carefully removed his glasses.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sam felt like she had just fallen asleep when their wake-up call came the next morning. "Sam, get up," Daniel called cheerfully on his way to the bathroom.

Sam groaned into her pillow but couldn't bring herself to get out of bed. She had slept terribly the night before. At first she couldn't fall asleep at all, and then she kept waking up. She must have talked herself out of going over to the guys' room to talk to Colonel O'Neill about fifty times.

Daniel came out of the bathroom and said, "Sam! Get up, everyone's meeting here for breakfast in an hour."

"Rrmmrmph, Dnnnl," she said, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"What?"

"I'm up, Daniel!"

"You don't look up."

"I am. Go take your shower."

"Okay. We've got about a million things to do today."

"Then what are you wasting time bugging me for?"

"Well I love you too," Daniel commented dryly as he went back into the bathroom.

Sam dozed off again while Daniel took his shower, and the next thing she knew he had jumped on the bed next to her and was trying to pull the pillow off of her face. "Sam!"

"Daniel go bug somebody else, I'm so tired..."

Someone knocked on the door. "See, now everyone's ready for breakfast and you're not even up yet," Daniel admonished as he hurried to get the door.

"It hasn't been an hour," Sam objected.

Daniel let Teal'c and Jack into the room. They were wearing the hats Daniel and Sam had given them, which meant Teal'c had to duck to enter the room, as his large purple Mad Hatter top hat made him about eight and a half feet tall.

"Sam's refusing to get up," Daniel said unnecessarily as Teal'c and Jack spotted their sleeping teammate.

"Now come on, Sleeping Beauty, there's embracing the Disney spirit and there's taking things too far," Jack said mildly, plopping himself down on Daniel's unmade bed, making himself comfortable.

"Aren't you a little early, sir?" Carter asked. He seemed to be in a perfectly amicable mood, which wasn't what she had been expecting after what happened last night.

"We wanted to make sure you kids were up, and looks like we were right. Come on, Daniel looks like he's about to start flying in circles around the room if we don't let him loose soon."

Sam rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom without saying anything else. She needed coffee. Lots of it. Maybe Janet could hook up an IV.

"Why don't you go see if Janet and Cassie are up?" Sam called after brushing her teeth.

"Already did!" Jack called back cheerfully. "They're up and in the process of getting ready, but you'll probably still beat them both. Hurry up, we have to be there at eight."

"Be where?"

"Breakfast! Cassie's pick!"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Cassie's pick turned out to be a character breakfast: Winnie-the-Pooh. Sam looked over at Jack as they entered the "Hundred Acre Woods," wondering if he was remembering last year, when he had sent her a balloon for breakfast with a Winnie-the-Pooh quote attached.

He obviously was. He winked and said, "Maybe you can get a picture with the bear. I bet he'll let you sit on his lap."

If the Disney people were surprised at having such a large party of only adults they covered it well. Before leaving the room, Teal'c and Jack had made Sam and Daniel put their Mouseketeer ears back on, so as soon as they sat down, Jack told the waiter they were celebrating "The Mouseketeers' birthdays."

Sam did get her picture taken with Winnie-the-Pooh, but would only do it if everyone else did as well. Teal'c looked like he wanted to hurt someone, but he stood stoically in between Tigger and Daniel for the photo.

At the end of breakfast, the entire "cast" of Winnie-the-Pooh came out and sang to Sam and Daniel and brought out chocolate muffins that tasted suspiciously like cake. Janet frowned at the unhealthy breakfast but decided once a year wouldn't hurt.

After breakfast, they spent a long time zipping around the Magic Kingdom, doing as many rides and things as possible. Everyone was having a wonderful time. Whatever was wrong with Cassie seemed to have lifted. Sam still wondered what was going on with her, and Jack as well, but since they didn't have much time to begin with she just decided to forget about it for the time being.

Jack seemed quite happy and relaxed towards her, and while he was pretending to be embarrassed at the way Teal'c and Cassie were approaching all the characters for autographs and pictures, she could tell he was secretly pleased that everyone, even Teal'c, was having a good time. Apparently while Teal'c didn't really embrace the world of Winnie-the-Pooh, he was quite the Disney afficianado in every other area. Sam had even seen him smiling twice already.

They rode all the classic rides together. Space Mountain was first, which was just stupid after eating such a huge sugary breakfast; Sam was left feeling remarkably like she had just taken her first trip through the Stargate. At least she wasn't cold this time.

"Guess you shouldn't have had that big breakfast, huh," Jack said as he saw her looking nauseous, patting her on the shoulder exactly as he had done after shoving her through her first wormhole. Instead of thinking horrible thoughts about him as she had on that momentous occasion, she just laughed and waved off Janet's attempt to check her pulse and temperature.

All three women expressed their disappointment that the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was noticeably devoid of both Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, and Jack flat-out refused to go to 'it's a small world after all,' insisting he'd never get the song out of his head if he did. "Now you know how the rest of us, including General Jumper, feel," Daniel commented as they moved on to the Haunted Mansion.

At the Haunted Mansion, they all were surprised to learn that Dr. Fraiser was quite jumpy. She got spooked several times, which always made everyone, especially Jack, laugh. When a ghost startled him and he jumped behind Teal'c, grabbing the large man's shoulders instinctively, everyone laughed even harder.

"I will not let any harm befall you at the Magic Kingdom, O'Neill," Teal'c assured him in that tone that said, 'yes, I am in fact making fun of you, O'Neill.'

On Splash Mountain, they all managed to squeeze into one log, despite the fact that it forced Jack to be squashed much more intimately between Teal'c and Daniel than hehad any desire to be. Ever. Apparently there was some rule that the smallest person had to be in front and the biggest in back. So Janet got splashed the most and Jack, in the middle of a Daniel/Teal'c sandwich, spent most of the ride trying to figure out where to put his hands. Jack rather thought Daniel got the best deal on that ride, but he resisted the urge to demand a hand check to see where exactly his 2IC was being mauled by the Spacemonkey.

After lunch, they decided to split into smaller groups based on what they preferred to do, and meet up at MGM for dinner and "something else" – Daniel and Sam refused to say what, even when Jack and Teal'c pinned their arms to their sides while Cassie and Janet tried to tickle it out of them. After lunch, Cassie and Teal'c wanted to stay at the Magic Kingdom because they were still hunting down Ariel and two dwarves.

Jack was a little bit hesitant about letting those two go off alone together; neither had been to Disney World before and both tended to find trouble easily. But they were insistent, and when a hundred and some-odd year-old Jaffa tells you he wants to go ride the teacups, you let him ride the damn teacups.

Janet really wanted to see Epcot, so Daniel offered to go with her, despite the fact that he had already seen most of it. "You can never have too much Epcot," he said with a shrug. They turned to go but Daniel suddenly felt guilty at the way everyone had just sort of left Jack and Sam standing alone together in the middle of Main Street.

Normally, Daniel wouldn't have been surprised if Jack had _arranged _for them to split up like this, but now... after what he had remembered last night and everything, Daniel wasn't sure. He really did think they needed to talk, but he also wanted them both to have fun today as well. "Hang on I have to ask Sam something," Daniel said quickly, trotting back over to Jack and Sam, who were studying a map of the park.

"Forget something, Danny?" Jack asked.

"Er, yeah, Sam..." She nodded at the look on his face and followed him a few feet away from Jack and Janet.

"What's up, Daniel?"

"Are you two going to be okay today?"

"Of course. He seems perfectly happy today. When we were looking at the map just now he was humming zip-a-dee-do-dah."

"What about you?"

"I still don't know what last night was about but I'm not going to bring it up if he's not. That would ruin our day."

"All right... well, have a good time then."

"You too." She glanced at Janet and then back at Daniel. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said suggestively.

"Well, that gives me _lots _of options then, doesn't it?" Daniel countered.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him and shoved him lightly as they went back to Jack and Janet. "Ready?" Daniel asked with a smile.

"Yeah... see you guys later," Janet said, looking at Sam for an explanation.

Sam shrugged innocently and turned to her CO with a bright smile. "So, what do you want to do first, sir?"


	6. Zipadeedoda

A/N: Jack and Sam _will _be forced to talk eventually, but it's more fun if they're both in full denial for a little bit longer;).

Here's where we left off:

_Sam shrugged innocently and turned to her CO with a smile. "So, what do you want to do first, sir?"_

Ch 6: Zip-a-dee-do-dah

Jack pondered the question as he watched Daniel and Janet disappear in the crowd, off towards Epcot. "I don't care, we can do whatever you want."

"I've been here all week, sir, isn't there something specific you'd like to do?"

He shrugged. "Not really. It's not my birthday, Carter."

"Okay, but... all right. Well, I mean we did pick out some things, but..."

"Good, lead on Major!"

"Well, the things I thought... we thought... you'd like are kind of pretty widely spread out."

"That's okay."

"Oh. All right then. Well, one of them is here at the Magic Kingdom, so I guess we should do that one first."

"Okay, let's go. And Carter?"

"Sir?"

"Relax. This is supposed to be a vacation." He smirked and added ironically, "That's an order."

"Yes, sir." She stuffed the map into her back pocket and they headed off in the proper direction, Sam trying to figure out what the Colonel was thinking and getting nowhere. He seemed happy enough. Maybe she was just overreacting.

"Race cars, Carter?" Jack asked in surprise when he saw where she had led him: Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.

"Yeah. Well, they don't go really fast or anything but I thought they looked..."

"Fun?" he supplied with a smile.

"Yeah. Fun."

"Only if you're especially fond of losing, Carter," he said with a challenging tone to his voice.

"Sir?"

"Loser buys a beer? Wait, I guess beer and Disney World don't really mix, do they? Okay, loser buys a Coke."

"It'll be Diet Coke, sir."

"I don't like Diet Coke, Major."

"I'm aware of that, sir. I do."

She thought about adding that actually she and Daniel had some pretty tasty beer over at Epcot, at the Biergarten. But seeing as how he seemed perfectly happy to wager soda rather than beer, she figured adding beer to her already confused brain probably wasn't a good idea. Plus the thought of getting drunk at Disney World in the early afternoon with her CO was very strange on many levels.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Cassie wondered if Teal'c noticed how strangely the operator looked at him as he folded his huge frame into the flying Dumbo car and she wedged herself in next to him, or if he simply couldn't care less. She loved Teal'c a lot; he was the first member of SG1 she had ever laid eyes on for starters, but sometimes she really couldn't read him very well.

"Teal'c, are you up for a challenge?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"Always, Cassandra Fraiser."

"We can try to do everything in the Magic Kingdom in one day. Between now and when we have to meet everyone, of course. And try to get _everyone's _autographs and pictures with all of them. It's hard to do. They even have contests about it and stuff."

"That sounds most entertaining. I am glad you are no longer upset."

She looked at him in surprise as their elephant took off the ground. Cassie told herself that it was all in her head; that their elephant did _not _take off more reluctantly than the others, and that it _was_ fully capable of supporting the two of them.

"You are disturbed about O'Neill and Major Carter," Teal'c stated, not bothering to phrase it as a question because it wasn't one.

"It's like she doesn't even care anymore, and he's not saying anything either! I don't get it, they were so close..."

"I do not understand either. However I believe they must work out their problems between themselves. And besides, I would not want you to miss the fun of Disney World because you are preoccupied."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I decided too. So... think you can keep up with me today, Teal'c?" she asked with a challenging smile.

"I will try, Cassandra."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"I'm so glad Colonel O'Neill organized this. I know I should be better about doing this kind of thing with Cassie, but it's so hard even getting away from the base for a little while..."

"Yeah. I never get to leave and I don't even have a kid waiting for me at home," Daniel said sympathetically. "I don't think Cassie minds though. I mean, she wasn't a really little kid when you adopted her, and she seems really happy... aside from whatever Sam's done to piss her off recently."

Janet smiled. She hadn't really expected Cassie's less-than-subtle attitude to escape Daniel, but she was a bit surprised he hadn't figured out its cause yet.

"She doesn't want to talk about it, but I know it's about Sam and Colonel O'Neill. Or, more specifically, Sam and Pete."

"Ah. Yes," Daniel said, nodding in understanding as they arrived at Epcot. "Well... that is the question on everyone's mind, is it not?"

Janet shrugged. "It surprised me too. Sam wouldn't talk about it. She told me if it ever got serious she would, which led me to believe she doesn't expect it to get serious."

"Yeah, she said as much to me. I just don't get it..."

"Neither does Cassie, and I think she's taken it as something of a personal insult."

"How so?"

"I think she's made getting Sam and the Colonel together into sort of an ongoing pet project. So, what should we do first?" she asked with a bright smile as they got through the Epcot entrance.

"Well, over here there's a... medical type thing. I mean I'm sure it's very elementary so if you don't want to check it out I understand of course, but... it's one of those voyage through the body type things, and all that."

"Sounds fun, let's go!" She linked her arm through his and they headed off towards Body Wars.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Diet, please!" Sam reminded him triumphantly as Jack headed off to one of the millions of vendors nearby. He debated telling her he had let her win but quickly decided against it. First, it wasn't entirely true. He _had _let her win, but it had really been mostly because he was trying to keep from bumping into a little boy and girl who looked way too young to be driving _any _type of vehicle that didn't come with streamers and a bell on the handlebars.

Sam had been pretty relentless on the track, which was kind of funny by itself. His usually selfless and protective Major had zipped past young and old alike, probably not noticing that there were actual _people _driving those cars at all.

Plus he knew if he had won by just a little bit she would have demanded a rematch and they probably would be at the same ride all day long. Not that he would really have minded that, but those tiny cars weren't exactly designed for his 6'2" frame. His knee was already beginning to twinge and they had only done half a day's worth of walking.

"Where to now?" he asked as he returned to where she was waiting out of the main tourist traffic and handed her the soda.

"Well... there's some shopping things but those are really far away."

"Shopping?" he asked, wincing. He liked to think he was a pretty modern guy. He didn't mind cooking or cleaning, doing laundry, ironing, and it didn't bother him at all that he had to (_had to, _ha!) call his 2IC to reset the clock on his VCR when the power went off, or change the oil in his truck... but he still didn't like shopping.

"There are a couple of stores here that you will _really _like," Sam said eagerly, pulling out her map again. He tried to look at it but she turned so he couldn't see it, holding it up.

"Carter!"

"Just trust me, sir, you don't need to _see _which stores I'm talking about yet... besides we should wait and see if everyone else wants to go later."

"There are a million things on that map, it's not likely I'll..." he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Did you... draw an actual, visible _plan, _Major?" he asked suddenly.

"N...no."

"And are you now lying to your Commanding Officer? At Disney World no less? Tsk tsk, Carter, your nose will grow."

She laughed and folded the map up. "All right then. We'll save the shopping for later. Let's go hop on a car."

"Why?"

"We're going to Epcot."

He looked at her suspiciously but followed. She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was following. All Jack knew of Epcot was that it was the Sam/Daniel part of Disney World, which probably meant that he would find it either boring or incomprehensible, or both. And Carter herself had told him she and Daniel were done there and he didn't need to go... he eyed the map that was sticking out the back pocket of her pants and snatched it up quickly, but not smoothly. He had been hoping she wouldn't notice.

She did, of course, and there was a brief scuffle over the map as they wove through crowds towards the shuttle to Epcot. Finally as they got on board, he relinquished the map, surprised at how fast the casual companionship they'd established during the car races had turned very, very flirtatious, and even more surprised that Carter seemed to be enjoying and encouraging it.

Once they got to Epcot she walked right past the space looking stuff. "Daniel and I did that already. He hated it because the inaccuracies upset me," Sam offered by way of explanation as they passed the large area.

"Ah yes. Was it a repeat of the... what was that alien movie Teal'c made us all go see called again?"

"Signs."

"Right. Was it a repeat of the 'Signs' incident?"

"Something like that, sir."

"Want to go tell them how wrong they've got it?" Jack offered.

"No thanks. Not this time anyway."

She led him to a ride called Test Track, which simulated being in a race car going very fast around crazy hairpin turns and the like. "That was cool, Carter," he said as they climbed out of it when it was over. "But I don't want you to think we have to do only stuff like this. I mean, if you want to go looking for Princess whoever like Teal'c and Cassie, that's okay too."

"Actually I've been wanting to go on that ride all week, sir, but it's not really Daniel's thing. I mean he'll go on roller coaster type rides, but he doesn't really like them all that much – he doesn't really seem to care much one way or the other."

"Oh. Okay then."

She paused, the thought suddenly occurring to her that he didn't care one way or the other either. And not just about the rides at Disney World. Whatever they filled today with, about her and Pete...

Jack quickly realized his 2IC wasn't walking briskly beside him anymore and turned around, alarmed at her sudden disappearance. In the field, that would have meant he was crouching down with his gun pointed at something evil and menacing, most likely.

At Disney World, he felt that, despite her tendencies to find herself kidnapped by various TV crews, crazy dying businessmen, and rogue NID officers whilst on 'down time,' the possibility of her finding herself in sudden peril at 'the happiest place on Earth' was remote, but probably not as remote as what had actually happened. She was stopped in the middle of a fairly large crowd and she suddenly looked like she was about to cry.

While it wouldn't have been the first crying blond wearing Mouse ears he had come across that day (although most of them had been a fraction of her age and about half as tall), he happened to know this particular blond quite well, and he had never seen her cry before without a damn good reason. And he really didn't want to see her cry today.

He quickly walked back over to her, nearly bowling over an old lady and her grandkids on the way and did the first thing that came into his head: he grabbed her hand and started pulling her through the crowd at twice their previous speed. "Come on, Carter, we don't have all day. What's next on your secret list?"

Sam, for her part, felt like she was still on a roller coaster. What in the hell was going on with either of them? He was clearly trying to cheer her up and keep her busy. Ironically, that had been the reason she had circled all those little spots on the map she thought he'd enjoy as well in the first place.

So, she decided to just go with it. Plus, he still hadn't let go of her hand, which was nice. "Tower of Terror, sir," she said decisively. "I did it with Daniel already but it was a lot of fun, and it doesn't take long. It seems a shame to come all the way to Epcot for just one thing, so we can do that too and then go ahead and get over to MGM because there's something else there before we have to meet up with everyone else."

"What about the shopping?"

"We can always do that tomorrow."

"Not even going to give me a clue what kind of shopping you think I could possibly enjoy at Disney World?"

"Nope," she said with a grin.

"Just checking," Jack answered as they got in line for the Tower of Terror. He glanced at the map that was once again not-so-securely sticking out of her pocket but resisted the urge to steal it again just now. She still hadn't let go of his hand, which was cool.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Cassie was shifting impatiently on her feet. She had really, really wanted to ride the teacups just as much as Teal'c had but honestly, enough was enough. Teal'c was the strongest person she had ever seen, and he was able to spin their teacup _sooooooo _fast. It had been wildly fun the first two times, but then other children had started to get jealous and now there was practically a second line to the teacup ride to sit in Teal'c's cup and be spun so fast that several parents could be heard voicing concerns that their smaller children were going to be launched into orbit.

Luckily, as the ride ended, Cassie spotted someone in the distance. "Teal'c! I just saw Dopey AND Doc walking towards the Peter Pan ride... if we hurry we can catch them!"

Teal'c stepped right over the line of small children, bowed, and offered his apologies to them, then hurried off with Cassie to chase down their two remaining dwarves. "I am sorry I wasted so much time on the teacups, Cassandra."

"Did you have fun?" Cassie asked.

"Indeed."

"Then it wasn't wasted time, Teal'c." She gave him a small smile and they took off after the dwarves.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"That was great, Daniel! It would have been really helpful to take Cassie there when she started asking about the birds and the bees... and a bunch of other things."

"Yeah, I imagine it would have been," Daniel agreed. "Oh, look, cotton candy! And they have blue! It's really hard to find the blue and when I was a kid I... what?" he stopped at the look on Janet's face and apologized. "Sorry, I get kind of... caught up easily."

"No, it's... cute," Janet said carefully. "And I like cotton candy too, Daniel."

"Great! Pink or blue? My treat."

"Pink."

"Good, we can share and compare." He quickly purchased two of the largest bags of cotton candy he had ever seen and by the time they made it to Mexico (Epcot Mexico,) they were halfway through with both.

"You look like Sam," Janet said suddenly.

Daniel frowned slightly. Maybe Janet was taking the 'twin' thing a bit too seriously. Daniel dearly loved Sam, but didn't necessarily want Dr. Fraiser equating the two in her mind... Sam was a woman, after all, and Daniel most definitely was not.

Janet laughed and explained, "Your mouth. It's getting blue. Like Sam and her blue jell-o."

"Oh! Is it bad?"

"Not really, it's kind of funny when she starts talking physics with a blue tongue but..."

"No, me!"

"Oh. No, it's not that bad. Here, have some more of mine, maybe it will... even out."

"Want to do this boat thing? El Rio del Tiempo?"

"River of Time?"

"Yeah, you speak Spanish?"

"Enough to order margaritas, that's about it. The pink is just mixing and making your mouth kind of purple," she added casually as they got in the back of the line.

"If we go to Germany next there's a cool restaurant Sam and I went to. Biergarten. We could get drinks there."

"Sounds good. Oh, wait, Cassie was looking at the information in the room last night... that's the one that's advertised as 'Oktoberfest all year long.'"

Daniel grinned, shrugged, and pointed out, "It's _Disney _Oktoberfest."

"All right, but I am not meeting up with everyone drunk. Neither of us would ever hear the end of it if we went off for a few hours and got drunk at Disney World."

"Good point." Daniel spent the entire time they were waiting in line trying to look at his own tongue to check what color it was.

"If you're that worried about it we can go now..."

"No! I want to go on this ride!" As he practically leapt into the boat, he realized he probably sounded (and looked, with his Mouse ears, cotton candy, and purple mouth) a lot like a four year old at the moment, he quickly added, "I mean, I've been... waiting to go on this ride all week. I thought you might like it."

"Oh." Janet didn't really know what else to say to that. True, Daniel was a sweet man by nature, and being in an atmosphere all week that just encouraged that had to be taken into consideration, but was he just being extra friendly today or was he actually trying to... flirt or something?

On a few occasions over the years she had thought Daniel might be a little bit interested in her, but usually it just seemed more like they were both there because Sam and Jack were there (wherever _there _happened to be at the time, of course) and so they kind of got stuck together while Sam and Jack did their weird not-quite-dating, not-quite-buddies thing.

While she certainly thought Daniel was cute, she really didn't know him all that well. It was certainly not anything like the relationship Jack and Sam had... or had started to have... or at least used to have... thinking about that just made her sad. Anyway, whatever little spark there had been between Janet and Daniel, however, had not come back when he had. This was the first time since his return from being ascended that the idea he might find her attractive had even occurred to her.

"Um, Janet, are you okay? You're not getting seasick are you? We did eat a _lot _of cotton candy but I don't think we can get off at this point..."

"No, I'm fine," Janet assured him. A little bit confused, but fine.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Sir, for the love of God, _please _wipe that smug look off your face!" Sam said, her voice a mixture of embarrassment and amusement.

"I didn't say anything," Jack insisted, holding his hands up in defense.

"Come on we're running out of time," Sam said, changing the subject and squeezing through the crowd. After a few seconds, she realized she had just given him an order and was currently dragging him around by the hand. Blushing, she waited for him to call her on it. He didn't.

Jack figured Sam was just flirting with insubordination because he almost always called her on it, and that way he'd forget about what had happened in the Tower of Terror. He wasn't going to. He let her drag him to get another transport and just had time to see that it was going to MGM before he was sitting on a crowded bench seat with her and they were moving.

New strategy. "I thought you said you and Daniel had already gone on that ride before, Carter," he said innocently.

"We did! It... changed. That's what scared me!"

The ride, which was basically an elevator that 'broke and plummeted you to your death,' had risen slowly, then fallen, then risen again only partially, fallen again, risen all the way back up, crashed faster than ever, hovered for a moment at the thirteenth floor, then crashed back down to the ground level. After the first initial fall Sam had latched onto his arm like they were about to die, and she had actually joined most of the other people in the car in screaming out loud. That had taken him much more by surprise than her grabbing his arm had, although he figured the damage she'd done to his forearm was worse than the damage to his ear drums.

"Carter, it's a ride..."

"I'm telling you, sir, it fell in a completely different pattern that time, so it seemed like it was really... falling."

"Oh. Are you okay? I mean, I'd hate to have to stop teasing you but if you're still shaken up about it..."

"I'm not. I'm fine now, it was just a ride. It just surprised me, that's all. I mean, come on, Colonel, we _do _rely heavily on elevators at work every day..."

"That's true, I hadn't really thought of that. Okay, if you get your picture taken with another character I won't mention it to anybody."

"Deal," she said quickly, standing up as they arrived at MGM.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Who is Tom Sawyer?" Teal'c asked as he and Cassie reached Tom Sawyer Island.

"He's a kid from a book... one of those classic books all Earth... American kids have to read in elementary school. He's like... picture Jack as a little kid."

"Hmm. Most disturbing."

"Yes."

"And how did he manage to acquire his own island?"

"He didn't really... I'll loan you the book when we get back home if you want."

"I would appreciate it, Cassandra. Now, let us go climb the tree fort."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Carter, are you _trying _to kill me?" Jack demanded. His 2IC was practically at a run she was moving so fast, and seemed oblivious to the fact that she could squeeze through much smaller gaps in the crowd than he could. He was apologizing to people left and right as he struggled to keep up with her.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's at the back of the park and it's going to start soon..." she glanced at her watch and then at him, biting her lip. "Is your knee really bothering you? We don't have to go."

"Nah, it's fine."

"It's a long sitting down thing, once we finally get there."

"Lead on Macduff."

She gave him a funny look but kept walking.

"Oh, cool!" Jack said as they found seats and he realized where they were.

"I don't know if it's actually cool or not, sir, but I hope it is. It looked cool from the thing in the hotel room."

"There's stuff blowing up right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then it's going to be cool," he said firmly.

Figuring nobody else in the group would be very impressed with the Extreme Stunt Show, Sam had known it was right up the Colonel's alley. Daniel, she was sure, got quite enough of explosives in the field, and they weren't likely to be very impressive to a former First Prime. Janet and Cassie were both jumpy about things like that. But Jack O'Neill liked to see stuff blow up. It was one of those unwritten universal constants of SG1. It came right after, "Daniel will need an extra pair of glasses" and "Watch out for that Jaffa revenge thing."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Well, now what do you want to do? It takes a while to get over to MGM, maybe we should just head over there now? If we're a little bit early there's plenty of stuff there to see."

"Sounds good to me," Janet agreed. They had gone through most of the 'countries' of Epcot, sampling so many different foods and drinks that she seriously doubted she'd be able to eat anything at dinner, but they did still need to meet up with the rest of their group. Which reminded her...

"What are we doing tonight that's so cool?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise. Sorry."

"Come on, Daniel..."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. There's an Indiana Jones thing... which is sort of for everyone I guess. I mean I've always liked it for the archaeology, Jack likes it because it's a gruff guy with a scar on his face and a whip and a gun who gets all the ladies..." Janet giggled at that assessment and Daniel continued, "Teal'c likes it because it's by George Lucas _and _has Han Solo in it, and Sam told me all of you like it too. You, Cassie, and Sam I mean."

"Yes, you can't go wrong with Harrison Ford," Janet said seriously.

"Um. Okay. I'll take your word on that one. There's something else too that's mostly for Teal'c, but everyone else will like it too. They have a new Star Wars thing."

"Oh Teal'c will love that. Who knows, maybe he'll even smile."

"Nah. He'll get a little crinkle in his eyes though, but you have to look close."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Are they... they are! Janet, I spotted Jack and Sam coming up Main Street and they're holding hands!" Daniel said excitedly.

Janet was much too short to see them that far away, but she laughed. "Daniel it's really crowded and it's starting to get dark, I'm sure they just don't want to get separated."

"Well, yeah, but... okay, Janet, I'm going to tell you something but you can NOT let Sam know that you know, okay? Or that I told you."

"Oh this must be good," Janet said eagerly, sitting down on the edge of the fountain they were using as their RV point.

"It is. I just found out last night and I was upset because Teal'c and Cassie have known about it for a long time, so I know how you're going to feel and I didn't want you to be the only one left out."

"God, Daniel, what is it?"

He glanced around as though afraid there might be Air Force officers hiding in the bushes to leap out with court martials in their back pockets if he spoke too loudly. While that probably wasn't true, it never hurt to be safe... he leaned in close and spoke quietly.

Janet's eyes widened. She wasn't sure she'd heard him properly. "They do _what?_"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Those two look awfully chummy," Sam commented happily, using the pretense of adjusting her mouse ears as an excuse to discreetly release Jack's hand as they got within sight of Janet and Daniel, who were sitting on a bench seat of the fountain, talking very intimately, practically speaking directly into each other's ears. Whatever they were saying had them both pretty excited as well. "I guess he finally figured it out," Sam commented absently.

"Figured what out?" Jack asked.

"Nothing, just... when we first found Daniel, when he couldn't remember anything..."

"When he was 'Arum,'" Jack supplied with a grin.

Sam rolled her eyes. That would _have _to be the only alien name they encountered in seven years that he remembered correctly. Just so he could tease Daniel. Naked one. She snorted. It _was _pretty funny. "Yes. Remember when you tagged me 'it' to go try and convince him to come back?"

"Yup. And it worked too."

"Well, he asked me if he and I ever had a 'thing,' and I said no, so when he came back..."

"He asked _what?_" Jack spluttered.

Amused at the reaction, Sam said, "He didn't remember anything Colonel."

"Still."

"Yeah it kind of creeped me out too."

"That's like watching the scene where Leia kisses Luke in Empire Strikes Back... oh crap." He stopped talking but realized it was too little, too late.

"Busted," Sam said with a satisfied grin. "I knew there was no way you had never seen Star Wars!"

"Carter! Was there a point to your little story other than to fill my head with incestuous images of you and Daniel and make me lose my appetite for dinner?"

"Um, yes actually. So I casually asked Janet after we'd been back if Daniel ever asked her the same thing. He hadn't. But I mean, I always thought they both had sort of a... a crush... or an infatuation or something, and he didn't seem to remember so..."

"You think he remembers it now?"

Sam shrugged. "Or just developed a brand new one all over again," she added as they got close to the bench where the two doctors were still talking, looking conspiratorial.

"Fancy meeting you kids here!" Jack said loudly. They jumped apart from each other like he'd hit them with zats. Well, not exactly. They both remained conscious and there was no writhing in pain. But they did move apart from each other quite quickly, and gave him guilty teenagers-caught-doing-something-dirty grins.

"You guys have fun?" Daniel asked, smiling at them both. Janet was really smiling, no _beaming _at Jack and Carter much too widely to be considered normal, Jack was positive. Like the Cheshire Cat. Or Jonas on a really, really good day.

"Yeah... Daniel did your face get stuck like that or something?" Carter asked. Apparently she too found their friends' behavior disturbing.

"Maybe doc's got something to fix you up back at the hotel," Jack offered. Sam hit him lightly on the arm and he said, "What?" Well, _he _had thought he made it sound innocent enough. Apparently not.

Shaking her head, Sam moved aside a bit to get Janet alone, while Daniel did the same thing to Jack. Jack only realized this after it was done and marvelled once again at his 'twins.'

"You two looked cozy when we approached," Sam said quietly to her shorter friend.

"That is none of your business, and you shouldn't be talking anyway. Daniel said you guys were holding hands."

Sam suddenly burst out laughing. "I think this place has reduced us all to eleven year olds or something..."

"Well, Florida was where the fountain of youth myths prospered..." Janet began, still trying to process what Daniel had been telling her. They kissed _every _year on Sam's birthday, her own daughter had known about it for years, and Janet never had a clue?

"Have a sudden interest in mythology and ancient cultures, Dr. Fraiser?" Sam asked innocently.

"Oh hush."

"What was your favorite thing you did today?"

"We went on this ride at Epcot, El Rio del Tiempo. It was a boat thing. It was... nice."

"How romantic."

vvvvvvvvvvvv

"We went to this stunt show thing where they blew up a bunch of crap and crashed a bunch of cars and stuff. It was so cool," Jack was telling Daniel at the same time Sam and Janet were catching up.

"How romantic," Daniel said sarcastically.

"Hey, we can't all parade around with matching mouse ears on, whispering to each other on park benches. Is that funnel cake?" Jack suddenly eyed the half-eaten treat in Daniel's hand and made a grab for it.

"Yeah but it's kind of soggy by now..." Daniel started, trailing off uselessly as Jack commandeered the rest of Daniel's pastry.

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Oh. My. God."

As this phrase was spoken slowly by both women, Jack and Daniel turned quickly to see what they were looking at and froze, Jack with a handful of gooey pastry halfway to his mouth.

Cassie and Teal'c were approaching, although had Teal'c been a lesser man it would have been difficult to identify them, because they were buried under what looked like every souvenir ever produced by the Disney corporation.

"Hey, guys!" Cassie said happily as she reached everyone. She was carrying several bags in both hands and there were two balloons tied to her wrist. In addition to the brightly colored bags, she was carrying a very large plush Donald Duck. Still wearing her Minnie ears, she was carrying a large souvenir mug with a crazy straw sticking out of it in one hand and eating a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar with the other. A bag of half-eaten cotton candy was tied to a belt loop on her pants so she didn't have to hold it with her hands, and her purse was now covered with a myriad of assorted Disney buttons.

Teal'c, if it was possible, looked even worse, possibly because he was so large and just because he was Teal'c. The greatest warrior Jack had ever known. Standing in front of him covered in souvenirs, with bits of chocolate from his ice cream sandwich in the corners of his mouth. His Mad Hatter hat was now perched on his head at a comic angle; he had added at least two new layers to his wardrobe so that he was now wearing a Mickey track jacket over a t-shirt that had a picture of Grumpy the dwarf on it and said, "Sometimes I wake up Grumpy, sometimes I let him sleep."

Jack wondered if that was supposed to be about him, after the hat Daniel and Sam had given him. Teal'c carried twice as many bags as Cassie did, and one of them smelt like it contained popcorn and some sort of meat product. He carried a very large stuffed lion, a ridiculously large inflatable hammer with WOP! written on the side in cartoon letters, and had a balloon of his own tied to his wrist. There was a notebook tucked into the waistband of his pants that looked like a child's autograph book, and he had the camera around his neck, although it looked much stickier than it had when Jack had left it with him. Both Teal'c and Cassie wore huge, comedic oversized sunglasses whose frames were shaped like twin Mickey Mouse heads, and Teal'c was attempting to play paddle ball as they walked.

Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Janet all stared at the two as they reached them. Finally, Jack spoke. "What, did the Disney Store _throw up _on you guys or something?" he asked.

Sam hid a laugh, but it escaped when she noticed Daniel gaping at them both, open-mouthed.

"You guys look like you had fun," Sam commented.

Cassie glanced at Teal'c a bit uneasily and said, "We... did."

"What happened?" Janet demanded.

"Nothing, really... we did have a lot of fun, we just... set out a little goal for ourselves and..."

"We have failed," Teal'c said stoically.

"We didn't fail, T, we just... he's upset because we were trying to do everything, and we did ride all the rides and all, but we never could find Belle."

"Oh. That's too bad, Teal'c," Janet said, trying hard not to smile. "Let us help you carry that stuff and we'll go over to the restaurant... assuming Sam and Daniel are ready to tell us where we're eating, that is," she added, looking over at the two pointedly while they all started accepting some of Teal'c and Cassie's items to carry.

Jack, the least reluctant to offer to help, ended up stuck with the big inflatable hammer. "It squeaks when you hit someone with it," Cassie offered.

"Really," Jack said, experimentally whacking Daniel in the head with it. It did, in fact, squeak. So did Daniel.

"Maybe I should carry that, sir," Carter offered carefully as they started moving as a herd towards their destination, although only Sam and Daniel knew where they were actually going. "And guys, I'm sure you can find Belle tomorrow."

"The goal was to find them all today, Major Carter."

"Er... right. Sorry. You still look like you had fun though."

"Indeed. Did you have fun as well?"

"Indeed," Carter repeated lightly. Jack shook his head. Carter was about the only person in the galaxy who could get away with saying that back to Teal'c. Especially in that tone of voice.

Jack gave up trying to hit Daniel with the hammer again and turned his attention back to Carter, who was so preoccupied with Teal'c that she never saw it coming. He swung the hammer right at her bum and quickly tried to hide it behind his back when she wheeled around to look at him. He tried to look nonchalant, but as the hammer was quite obviously sticking out behind his back it didn't quite work.

Teal'c took his hammer back and wordlessly thrust the giant stuffed lion into Jack's arms instead.

"So, T, what's with this big lion?" Jack finally asked, holding it out at arm's length just in case anybody tried to accuse him of 'cuddling' it or something equally unmanly.

"I won him at a game of shooting water at a target, O'Neill. He is called Simba. He is the Lion King."

"Oh, er... way to go."

"The game was for children, O'Neill."

"Er, right." Well, he didn't know what to say to that. "Carter! Where are we eating, I'm starving."

"Here, sir," she said as she and Daniel stopped in front of a place and turned to everyone with expectant grins. Together, they exclaimed, "Sci-Fi Drive-In Theatre!"


	7. More Fireworks

A/N: Well, at the risk of revealing just how completely scatter-brained I have become lately, I only realized tonight that I have not actually posted this already. For some reason I thought I had done it about a week ago. Many apologies – things are unbelievably crazy (fun-crazy, not scary-crazy) around here at the moment, and this one just got away from me... I had just finished turning the guest room into a nursery when my step-son and his mom decided he's spending the summer here with us, so that meant we had to do some major room-swapping. For the first few days he was here, Morgan was sleeping in my office so I couldn't use my computer after he went to sleep... anyway, we'll see how long the husband and I can share an office without throwing pencils and other small projectiles at each other.

In the meantime, I read through this story again before posting it and I think, as with BT6, this ending is just too sad, particularly for a story that takes place at "The Happiest Place on Earth." So I'll add another happy chapter at the end, hopefully within the next couple of days. And I'll put a post-it up somewhere to remind me to a) write it and b) post it.

Thanks so much for all the feedback on this one. Writing this year's story has been the hardest story I've written, mainly because I hate the idea of Pete but can't quite bring myself to hate him as a person, so I've always avoided acknowledging his existence in other stories. Hopefully in this chapter I sort of tie-in the idea that the rest of this series has taken place within the SG1 universe, and sort of explain how/why Sam might still be w/ Pete despite all the other stuff. But since I'm doing next year as well, I couldn't just have him show up at Disney World and be accidentally killed on Pirates of the Caribbean or something equally improbable but nonetheless satisfying.

Apparently I'm going for the record on longest Author's Note as well. Truly not my intention. Please, enjoy. More to come, after all, we have to find out if Teal'c will ever find Belle.

Ch 7: More Fireworks

"What is this place?" Teal'c asked, staring at the entrance as though he were entering a holy shrine.

Sam and Daniel exchanged grins. They knew everyone would like it, but had predicted Teal'c, with his sci-fi obsession, would like it most of all.

"It's modeled after an old-fashioned drive-in theatre, and they show clips from old movies. Come on, let's go get a car!"

They were soon settled in a crowded 1950s style yellow convertible that seated 6, barely. Teal'c had to sit in the third row because he was so tall. Daniel squished in the back with him so they could talk about what they'd done that day. Janet and Cassie got in the middle with the majority of the souvenirs, and Jack and Sam got up front.

Jack, behind the wheel, immediately began 'driving' and making race car noises, until someone hit him from behind with the hammer and everyone told him to shut up. It sort of defeated the purpose, as he had been wagering with himself in his head to see who would crack first, and everyone had told him to stop at the same time. Still, it was nice to know that he could still make decent race car noises.

They ordered their food, the traditional burgers, fries, malts, etc. and while they waited for their food, various conversations started up with everyone filling everyone else in on what they had missed. Cassie and Teal'c had the most to talk about, and Jack was pleased with how much fun the two of them had had.

As the food arrived and they started eating, they started a game, trying to name the movie the on-screen clip was from. Whomever got it first got a point. Teal'c and (surprisingly) Jack were battling for first place, with Dr. Fraiser in a close third. "I thought you hated sci-fi, sir," Sam said quietly.

"I don't watch it now, but I went through a... phase... when I was younger, I suppose. Now it all looks like video games or something..." He winced as he realized how old that probably made him sound.

In the back, Teal'c and Daniel were bugging Janet and Cassie, messing with their mouse ears from behind.

"Hey, don't make me turn this car around!" Jack said in an angry-dad-on-roadtrip voice.

Everyone laughed, except for Teal'c, who waited for the laughter to calm down, turned to Daniel, and said, "This car is not operational, Daniel Jackson. Why would O'Neill attempt to turn it around?"

Everyone laughed again while Daniel explained the concept of a family road trip. "Hey, quiet, kids, I'm trying to watch the movie!" Jack objected, trying to reach over Cassie and Janet to hit Daniel and Teal'c with the inflatable hammer again.

"Sir, you do realize Teal'c is more than twice your age, don't you?" Sam asked when he had turned back around in his seat.

"Not in Disney years," Jack argued.

"Disney years?"

"Yeah... the way I see it, he's only a little bit older than Cassie in Disney years, because he's been here about a year longer than her. So that's why they're getting the biggest kick out of Disney World. It's all new to them."

"It's new to Daniel too, though. He's never been here before either. And I barely even remember it because last time I was here, I was about four and a half..." Sam turned to look at Janet. "When's the last time you were here?"

"Er... college. Spring Break, freshman year. And that's all I'm at liberty to say about that."

"Ooh, that sounds juicy, Doc..." Jack started.

"You don't worry about me, Colonel, just turn your attention back to the screen."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

After dinner, Jack was starting to worry that Teal'c might just combust. Since he was on Tretonin and had lost Junior, he wasn't quite as invincible as he once was, and after a day of eating sugary foods, it was starting to show. Plus the sci-fi dinner, and then he saw where they were going next... Jack had never seen him so happy. Cassie was on a major sugar/Disney high as well.

They went over to the Indiana Jones show, which was fairly crowded. Everyone enjoyed it, and when Teal'c saw that they were going to a Star Wars thing next, he picked both Sam and Daniel up at the same time, lifting them right off the ground in bone-crushing hugs. They looked slightly alarmed, patting Teal'c's massive arms and waiting patiently to be set back on their feet.

Finally, Jack tapped Teal'c on the shoulder and said, "Teal'c, those are the only two geeks on our team, and replacements would take months to break in. Put down the scientists." Teal'c did as instructed. Sam rubbed her ribs discreetly as they went in to find seats. Janet asked if she was okay, while Jack went to make sure no lasting damage had been done to his Spacemonkey.

What goes up must inevitably come down, and after the Star Wars thing, Cassie was crashing from her sugar high. Teal'c piggy-backed her to the park entrance, where they all waited for a ride back to their hotel.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Back at the hotel, everyone dispersed to their rooms to put their things away and get changed and everything. They congregated in Sam and Daniel's room and chatted about their days and what they wanted to do tomorrow. Teal'c was starting to sulk again, Jack noticed. Apparently he was remembering his earlier 'failure' to find Belle. Well, that was easily remedied. Jack discreetly made a call to get them reservations at a princess breakfast, hoping that would be a good surprise. He could always claim it was for Cassie.

They started talking about tomorrow's plans, and Sam again brought up shopping.

"I think between Cassie and T we've got enough crap to bring home, don't you, Carter?" Jack asked.

She smiled. "You're going to like it, sir, I promise. Don't you trust me?"

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and said, "Yeah, okay."

"Good. Then tomorrow we should all go to Downtown Disney after breakfast. Then if people start getting tired of that they can go back to the parks from there."

"Do you think we'll have time for lunch before we have to leave for the airport?" Daniel asked. The two were still refusing to let Jack look at the map.

"Yeah, we should," Sam muttered. "Want to have lunch at 'Captain Jack's?'" she asked.

"What is it?" Cassie asked.

"It's seafood, it's supposed to have one of the best views of the ocean and the bay," Daniel exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me."

"Any place with as good a name as that must be pretty good," Jack commented.

"So, we talked about everyone's favorite thing here... what's everyone's favorite Disney movie?" Janet asked curiously.

"Lady and the Tramp, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King..." Cassie started.

"Do you know what 'favorite' means?" Daniel asked lightly. Cassie hit him with a pillow off of Sam's bed. He threw her Donald Duck stuffed animal at her, but Janet broke it up before they could start an all-out war.

"I always liked '101 Dalmatians.' What about you, Daniel?"

"When I was little it was 'Peter Pan.'"

"Liked the idea of wearing tights, Danny boy?" Jack smirked.

Daniel ignored him. "But I also like Toy Story a lot. And Aladdin. Well, we know Jack likes 'The Little Mermaid...'"

"I do not!" Jack objected among the laughter.

"You did when we watched it with Cassie..."

"All I said was that for a cartoon, Ariel was kind of hot, that doesn't mean I liked it."

"Jack likes Winnie-the-Pooh," Cassie said innocently.

"I like Robin Hood if you must know," Jack informed them all.

"That's not a Disney movie..." Sam said.

"Yes it is, there's an animated one," Jack told her.

"Robin Hood is a fox, Little John is a bear," Daniel explained.

"Oh. I liked Peter Pan too, because Wendy wasn't a complete idiot like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White... and Cinderella. And I also liked Lady and the Tramp," Sam said.

Sam's cell phone rang while everyone was talking. Janet, closest to it, tossed it to her. She caught it and moved away from the group so she could hear. "Carter."

"Hi Sam, it's Pete."

"Oh, hi. What's up?"

"Just wanted to talk. How's your trip?"

"It's great, we're having a lot of fun." Something hit her from behind again and she turned to see that everyone was in a huge pillow/stuffed animal fight. She grinned as Cassie jumped off of Sam's bed onto Daniel's back, taking him by surprise and knocking him onto a pile of pillows.

"It sounds like you're on a playground."

"No, we're in for the night but everyone's still a little excited."

"So your whole team is there now? And your friend Janet?"

"Yes, and her daughter Cassie."

"Oh, that's nice. What did you do today?"

"Lots of stuff... we all stayed together in the morning and did all the traditional Magic Kingdom stuff, then split off into pairs until dinner time."

"Who'd you go with?"

"Hm?" Sam dodged a flying Piglet and said, "Oh, Colonel O'Neill."

She looked around the room and suddenly realized he wasn't in there. He could have just gone to the toilet or something, but somehow she doubted it. "Um, Pete, sorry, I really should go. I'll... call you when I get in tomorrow night, okay?"

"Okay, Sam, have fun."

"Bye."

Sam hung up her phone, looking around at the room full of people. "GUYS!"

Everyone froze wherever they were and looked at her. "What's wrong, Sam, is there an emergency on base?"

"No it was Pete."

"Again?" Daniel whined.

Sam ignored him and asked, "Where did the Colonel go?"

"He left," Cassie said.

"Where did he go?"

"To bed."

It was barely ten o'clock. True, they _had _done a lot of walking, but she could only think of two reasons why he would have just disappeared from the group so early: either he was upset by the fact that Pete had called, or he was off waiting for her somewhere. Either way, she needed to talk to him. The day of denial had been fun, but clearly they needed to try to resolve a few things.

"I'm going to go get a soda from the machine downstairs, I'll be back in a little while," Sam said distractedly to the group, who were already busy again, arguing over which Disney characters were superior to others in various categories.

"Okay, Sam, take your time," Daniel called. She met his eyes across the room and knew that at least he knew what she was really going to do.

She slipped out of the room and decided the most obvious place to look for him was his room. She walked next door, took a deep breath, and knocked. "Sir, are you in there?"

She waited several long moments and the door opened partially. He was already in his pajamas. "What's up?"

"I, er... was surprised that you left the group so early."

"Yeah, well... it was a... long day."

"Yeah." She stood there awkwardly. Apparently he wasn't going to invite her in. "Sir..."

"No offence, Carter, but I had kind of just gone to bed..." he tried to hint.

"Can I come in, sir? Please? I... I want to talk to you."

He really, really wanted to tell her no, she could tell. But he finally stepped aside, holding the door open wordlessly. She went inside and noticed that both beds were still made, and the patio door was open. So he hadn't been in bed already. She looked around, trying to figure out where to sit and what she wanted to say. "Are you going to kiss me this year or not?" seemed a bit forward, so she probably needed to think of something else.

After what had to be their longest awkward silence to date (which was saying something,) Jack finally said, "You can just barely see the fireworks from the balcony, if you want to go look."

"Okay," she agreed quickly. That would be a good distraction. He grabbed the blanket that was folded at the foot of his bed and handed it to her on his way back out to the balcony. She followed him out there and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was a little bit chilly, and they were up high so there was a cool breeze as well.

"This has been a wonderful birthday. You were absolutely right, sir, we never would have taken a week off if you hadn't arranged it. Thank you so much."

"You already thanked me. I'm glad everyone liked it. It's good having Daniel back."

"Yeah," she agreed. She watched the fireworks, which were pretty far away but still visible.

"Sorry you couldn't see your dad this year," Jack offered after a long silence.

"Oh, that's okay, sir. He's busy and I _am _meeting him at the Alpha site in a few days to work on our new weapon."

"Yeah."

After a full five minutes of silence, Jack swallowed hard. "So... how's Pete?"

"Okay," Sam answered quickly. "I guess. He called. He um, probably thinks we're all crazy because it was so loud and all, and he called a couple nights ago and Daniel was trying to be cute."

"What did he do?" Jack asked, genuinely curious. He may have been forcing himself to be totally Swiss on the Pete issue, but that didn't mean he wouldn't like to hear what the loudly opinionated Dr. Jackson had to say on the subject.

"Daniel doesn't really like Pete much, and it was awkward to begin with because I had forgotten we sort of had plans this weekend."

"Oh."

"Not real plans, just abstract 'sometime this month,' plans, and since it's the last weekend of the month I guess he thought I'd be around... he didn't know it was my birthday and didn't know about Daniel and me having the same birthday so he was surprised, and he wasn't really comfortable with Daniel and me sharing a room so Daniel was yelling loud things about me joining him in the bath before it got cold and things like that."

Jack laughed and reminded himself not to make Daniel beg next time he wanted an extra hour at an old building or something.

"It's not serious," Sam said out of nowhere.

"With Pete?"

"Yeah, I mean... I haven't seen him since he got out of the infirmary. Busy schedules and all... we're not... we haven't agreed to be exclusive or anything."

"But you've..." Jack cut himself off and leaned on the balcony wall. He wasn't going to ask if she and Pete were sleeping together. It was bad enough imagining it when he could still tell himself that they hadn't. If he knew for certain that it was true, he wasn't sure he could keep being so friendly around her. And he thought he'd done a pretty good job of that for the most part. "Never mind. Why are you telling me this, Carter?"

"I just... I thought... maybe that... if you thought Pete and I were serious, that was why you... only kissed me on the cheek last night," Sam said quietly.

He sighed. "Carter... I hear you saying it's not serious, but..."

"You don't believe me?"

"I just... actually I'm kind of surprised you still want to... now that you have Pete."

"So all those other years were just because neither of us had anyone else?"

"No."

"And six years of tradition are just going to end because I've gone on a few dates with a guy?"

"I guess."

"Why?"

"Why?" he repeated, getting defensive. "Carter..."

"I mean, we effectively put aside rules set up by our government every year. How is Pete a bigger deal than the Air Force?"

"It just is."

They stared at each other, very nearly glaring, for several long minutes.

"Well," Sam finally said, hoping it was too dark for him to see how upset she was. "If that's how you feel about it I guess I'll just leave you alone. Sorry to bother you, sir."

He clenched his jaw and nodded. She turned to go. Figuring they might never start another conversation like this again, he decided he had to ask. "Carter?"

"What?"

"What... what happened?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, sir."

"No. I mean with us."

"Nothing happened."

"Something did," he said quietly, sitting down in one of the chairs on the cramped balcony and gesturing for her to sit down as well. She did. "Or I'm dumber than I look."

"Wh..what do you mean, sir?"

"I know this is a really... weird tradition we have going on. And we've never really talked about it. But especially after what happened last year, I kind of... I thought... I guess I misinterpreted... but I assumed we were on the same... page, so to speak."

"Sir, please."

"What? You asked me, Carter. You say nothing happened but obviously something did, or else I've just been misinterpreting things for years. I thought we didn't need to talk about it because we both knew that... whatever we had was all that was possible... for the time being. So talking about it would just make it harder to keep... postponing or putting aside and... am I making any sense?"

"Probably not much to anybody else, but I think I understand."

"I just thought... I don't know. I mean I thought you... you knew. You _did _know, at least."

"Know what?"

"How I feel... God this is awkward. There's a bunch of good reasons we never talked about this, aren't there?"

"Yeah."

"Look. With the zaytarcs, you at least knew enough to know that feelings were there that were strong enough to affect the lie detector. And that was a long time ago, I thought you would know that it only got... that they didn't go away."

"I know," Sam said quietly. "But we're not supposed to have those feelings, sir. And I know that can't be controlled, but talking... and acting... can be."

"But we were doing okay the way things were, once a year... it was a good system, I thought. It was working, wasn't it? I just don't know what happened that changed all that... was it... did I do something..."

"Yes," Sam admitted.

She spoke so quietly he wasn't sure he heard her. "Sam, what did I do?"

"Nothing wrong. I just... it just got too hard. After last year. I've always known there was a strong... attraction... between us, and I never really thought it was just that, but after last year when you were... you knew exactly what I needed and it was... scary. Overwhelming."

"Great," Jack said dryly.

"It just... it got too hard. I needed to... take a step back..."

"From something we never really even..."

"I know. It's... all this Anubis stuff is so... real. And... it was getting too hard to keep... making the right choice."

"So you're saying..."

"I was thinking too much. About... retiring. Asking Hammond to let me work as a civilian... I was starting to think about it a lot. Even on missions sometimes. And I was afraid that the distraction would get someone killed, or the temptation to quit when I think we're all needed more than ever would just be too much."

"I didn't know that," Jack said quietly.

"You didn't ask. I thought you didn't care, you were just clapping me on the back about Pete..."

"It's a self-preservation... thing," he tried to explain.

"So is mine," Sam said quietly. "I'm sorry. I never tried to explain... it's so hard to... when we can't openly talk about anything anyway... and you didn't... you haven't treated me any differently all year, but I know that I probably wouldn't have been able to... if the situation were reversed, now that I think about it, and out of the blue you started seeing someone... I probably wouldn't... handle it... like you have."

"Yeah, well. I guess I can... understand. Sometimes I forget you're not as old as I am."

Her eyes widened.

"That came out wrong. I meant... I mean I'm old, Carter, I've been married, I've... sowed my oats, I suppose. I'm not a very complicated guy and I'm pretty easy to please, as long as I've got a yo-yo or a beer, ya know? But you're still... I mean, you _have _given up a lot of your... younger years for work and stuff, and I don't really want a list of all your past relationships or anything like that but I do know this is the first one you've had since you left the Pentagon, and you were just a kid when you came to the SGC, so... look, I'm not going to give you a hard time about Pete. But to be honest, I didn't expect you to _want _to continue our... tradition. I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings or bring all this up when I kissed you on the cheek last night."

"I know."

"I had fun today, just hanging out with you."

"So did I. I really don't want to lose all that over Pete. I'm not lying to you, sir, it's not serious. It's not like we're getting married or anything!"

"I believe you," he said. He meant it, but he also couldn't help but think that unless Pete was even dumber than he looked, he wouldn't be ending things with Sam Carter anytime soon. "You won't lose it. We've actually been getting along a lot better this year than normal, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I really do," she agreed.

"I'm not going anywhere, Sam. You know that, right?"

She smiled and looked down at her lap. "I thought you'd... I can see you saying something a lot like that, but... thank you for saying it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry about this mess."

"It's not your fault."

She nodded, although she didn't really believe that. It seemed like he did, though. Suddenly she had a vivid flashback to her birthday party years ago, the year after Edora. While they were probably the worst verbal communicators on the planet, his kiss that year had been the most eloquent apology she had ever heard.

"What's on your mind now?"

Her mind jumped from that kiss to the one she had imagined on Prometheus and she flushed slightly and admitted, "Continuing our tradition."

She glanced at him nervously, biting her lip, and exhaled in relief as she saw that while he looked mildly surprised, the corners of his mouth were threatening to pull up in a smile. He braced his hands on the arm of his chair for leverage to get up, but after he made that gesture, Sam said, "Wait."

She got out of her own chair quickly and took half a step to meet him, leaned over, and kissed him hard. His hand immediately went to her cheek and she nearly cried because it was exactly like she had imagined it on Prometheus. But this was real, and she had some real stuff to try to say this time.

Random thoughts and feelings started overwhelming her brain, everything from flashes of last year's birthday to how she had felt when he was yelling at her in front of Felger and Teal'c for going off by herself with Felger, to other birthdays, to frantically trying to figure out how to get him off the planet with Maybourne... the look on his face when he went after Daniel, the look on his face when she came back with her Dad and Teal'c only mildly injured... he leaned up and pulled her in closer at the same time, kissing her back, and she decided it really wasn't the best time to be thinking about other things. She vaguely realized that the fireworks were still going off in the distance.


	8. Disney Always Means a Happy Ending

A/N: Okay, once again, I'm not sure this is the ending. I wrote this very fast and it's sort of nice as a happy ending, but while writing this one I thought it would be funny if there was this thing when they all got home, between Pete, Sam, Jack, and Maggie (the dog). I won't elaborate on it here, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do it.

Thanks for the responses. A couple of quick answers:

t-sport, thank you! As I have it planned, I'm going to skip Season 9 so I don't end up contradicting something that happens on the show, and just do a vague, non-specific future story (which I've never done before).

lynnmichelle: I am so terribly sorry to have put such a damper on your day! Please don't hold it against me forever;).

JohnnyQ:You have nothing to worry about.

Finally, I would really like everyone's opinion on this: next year's story, I had planned to have it set just beforeThreads, so we could actually have some Pete/Jack interaction, and all kinds of stuff like that. However, it seems to me that most people would rather have Pete disappear between 7 and 8, which I'm not opposed to after thinking about it for a while. So, which would people rather get? I think it would be funnier to let Pete come to a party and see just how much of an outsider he is (and would always be).

Ch 8: Disney Always Means a Happy Ending

Sam was up before Daniel the next morning. After everyone had finally left their room to go to sleep, Daniel had demanded to know what had happened with Jack, and they had stayed up incredibly late talking about it. During that time, Daniel had also mentioned that he told Janet everything he knew up to that point about any and all birthday kissing that had ever happened between Jack and Sam. Angry at first that Daniel had just volunteered such classified information out of nowhere, she calmed down when he pointed out that after he knew, she was the only one who didn't, and that hardly seemed fair.

"Well, that explains the look she gave me when I came back into the room and she said I looked flushed and suggested taking my temperature," Sam had commented. She debated ringing Janet's room to get her opinion about everything, but it was very late already, and they could always talk on the plane ride home or some time later.

When Daniel and Sam were so tired that they were finding decidedly non-funny things (like the shadow created by Daniel's Mouseketeer hat sitting atop his bedside lamp) to be incredibly amusing, they went to sleep.

So it was that Sam was up before Daniel the next morning, having ordered a wake-up call after Jack told her about the Princess breakfast for Teal'c. But if anyone asked, it was for Cassie. The Colonel had been most emphatic on that point.

"Daniel, you have to get up, we've got reservations at Cinderella's castle in an hour and a half," Sam said sternly.

Daniel groaned and pulled his pillow over his ears. Well, quite the role reversal this morning, Sam thought as she answered the knocking on the door. She expected it to be their CO, checking to make sure they were up. She was taken by surprise as she opened the door to a huge, already dressed in his Disney duds, grinning Teal'c.

"Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, are you preparing for breakfast? O'Neill has informed me that..."

"Teal'c, I know. I'm up but Daniel's being a bit of a slow-poke this morning..."

"Daniel Jackson, you must get up!" Teal'c said loudly, pushing past Sam and throwing himself at Daniel.

Daniel yelped and objected, "I may never get up again, Teal'c!"

As Teal'c got off of Daniel, Colonel O'Neill hurried into the room. "Hey, is T..." he started, sounding out of breath. "Teal'c! I told you to _call _their room and see if they were up."

"I chose to call _on _them instead, O'Neill," Teal'c replied calmly. "And it is a good thing I did, as Major Carter was having trouble encouraging Daniel Jackson to get out of bed when I arrived."

As he said this, Daniel got out of bed and stalked into the bathroom, muttering about 'rude awakenings' as he slammed the door.

"All right, you've seen that they're up, let's go back to our room and let them get ready."

"First we must check on Dr. Fraiser and Cassandra," Teal'c said quickly, hurrying past them and down the hall.

"Crap, I've gotta make sure he doesn't break either one of them, they're so little... we'll come back in an hour, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Sam said, amused with the entire situation. Obviously the Colonel's Princess breakfast idea had been perfect.

Jack turned to go, glanced back at her with a grin, said, "Nice jammies," and hurried down the hall after Teal'c.

Sam looked down and groaned. She was wearing Alice in Wonderland pajamas that had turned out to be one of the many things Cassie and Teal'c bought yesterday. The boxer shorts had a pattern of teacups and white rabbits, while the top was a camisole with a picture of the famous tea party scene with the caption, "We're all mad here."

"Well, it's not like it's not true," she muttered as she shut the door and went to go make sure Teal'c hadn't done any serious damage to Daniel.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

They were almost asked to leave the Magic Kingdom. Teal'c was a bit too thrilled to finally locate Belle, the last Princess he needed in his autograph book. He scared the poor girl quite a bit, but Daniel, smooth talker that he was, managed to calm everyone down, and even got her to take a picture with Teal'c and Cassie, to commemorate the completion of their 'Disney in a Day' game – Janet had convinced them that although it was technically the next morning, they were well under the 24 hour mark, especially considering the hours the park was closed and the fact that they hadn't even started their 'hunt' until after lunch.

They had just smoothed the Belle situation over and returned to their breakfast when Jack innocently asked, "Was Belle even really a princess? I don't think she was..."

Apparently to Teal'c, this was right up there with insulting Master Bray'tac. Jack jumped behind Sam and quickly started apologizing over her shoulder, "Sorry, T, didn't realize you were so into Disney... and I'm obviously remembering wrong, of course you would know better than I would about... everything Disney."

"Very well, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

Jack decided to watch his back that day anyway, just in case all was not truly forgiven. Never underestimate that damn Jaffa revenge thing, after all.

After breakfast, they headed to Downtown Disney, which turned out to be a big shopping and entertainment area. Because apparently there wasn't enough of that in the parks themselves. Nonetheless, Jack noticed that Sam was smiling an awful lot on the way there, but every time he caught her at it she tried very hard to put the 'proper USAF Major' face back on. She was hiding something all right.

Jack dutifully followed his large group around as they went in shops that didn't seem all that extraordinary to him. They watched a glass-blower at a place called Arribas... something or other, he'd already forgotten, but nobody bought anything because they didn't want to risk it breaking on the flight home. Jack decided he'd keep his eye out for something for Hammond, as a thank you for letting them all off for the weekend. He knew it hadn't been an easy thing for him to do, especially letting Carter and Daniel go for the whole week.

After a few other stores, Jack thought it unlikely that he'd find anything suitable for Major General George Hammond at Disney World. Oh well, he could always get him a bottle of his favorite scotch when he got home, or something like that.

As he followed everyone into a store called Basin, he was instantly overwhelmed with tons of conflicting perfumey smells. Daniel pushed past him, out the door, sneezing, his eyes already watering from the various smells. Teal'c went out to wait with him as well, leaving Jack alone with Cassie, Janet, and Sam, who all seemed to be moving around at three or four times their normal speed, smelling various things and calling out things like 'Oh, this one would be good for you, Jan!' from across the store.

The only store Jack had ever been in that was remotely like this one was called Bath and Body Works, and he had to be dragged in by Cassie on that occasion. If he recalled correctly, it had taken forever to drag just Cassie out of that store, and this one was about twelve times as big, _and _Sam and Janet were there as well. This was the only reason Jack was bravely remaining with them, rather than running off with Daniel and Teal'c to the golf store he had spotted across the street. He figured if he didn't stay there and remind them that time was indeed, still passing, they might very well miss their flight that evening.

He continued to let his mind wander as he waited by the door, until he heard his 2IC's voice call, "Hey, Cassie, grab a couple more bombs, will you?"

Well, now that wasn't right in _so _many ways, Jack just had to check it out. He finally located his 2IC and asked, "Bombs, Carter? Don't think they'll let you on the plane with those."

She looked confused for a split second, then grinned and tossed a round, blue cellophane-wrapped thing at him. He caught it automatically and looked down at it, reading the label. "What's a bath bomb?"

"You drop it in and it fizzes and stuff," she explained.

"Oh. So um... when do we get to the stores I'm supposed to like?" he asked.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry... Cassie! Janet! We're done!" she called loudly, heading to the cash register. Jack watched, amazed, as Cassie and Janet started making their way up to the register as well.

"How did you do that?" Jack whispered. "I tried that once, shopping with Cassie, and she almost beat me to death with a shoe."

Sam laughed and said, "Yeah, but that's because Cassie's got you wrapped around her little finger and she's known it for a looooong time."

"Hmm." Jack aborted the conversation as the teenager in question and her mother (keeper of sharp needles) approached. "I really wasn't trying to rush you, Carter," Jack added quietly.

"I know, but we can get stuff like this anywhere," Sam said with a shrug.

"Um, Jack, I think Daniel wants you," Cassie interrupted, tapping Jack on the shoulder and pointing at the window, where Daniel was waving at him frantically. And Teal'c was nowhere in sight.

"Oh crap. I'll meet you guys out front..." he called, hurrying out of the store. "What's up, Daniel?"

"Teal'c... we, ah, we went in there..." Daniel pointed to the entrance to another store called 'World of Disney,' which, Jack quickly noticed, claimed to be the largest Disney store in the world.

"Oh great," Jack muttered.

"Yeah. He won't come out. He doesn't believe me about airline luggage restrictions either..."

Luckily, Teal'c at his most discreet was still pretty easy to locate when he was out in public on Earth. Teal'c in his Disney gear, including the giant ridiculous purple hat, was a piece of cake. Large Jaffa cake. Heh. Jaffa cakes. Jack decided he should introduce Teal'c to Jaffa cakes when they got home. He might think it was funny now. If he'd given them to him when they first met, Teal'c probably would have thought Jack was trying to make him into a cannibal or something.

"Jack?" Daniel prompted.

"Oh, right. Listen, Teal'c, we don't want to keep the ladies waiting, now do we?" Jack tried.

"Do not let Major Carter in here, O'Neill, I am purchasing a gift for her."

"Yeah? What're you getting?" Jack asked.

"She stated her favorite movie as a child was 'Peter Pan,' and when we arrived she was wearing a Tinkerbell shirt. This is pixie dust, O'Neill," he said reverently, showing him the little glass bottle he was holding. To Jack, it looked more like it was filled with glittery powder than anything else, but if the Jaffa tells you it's pixie dust, it's pixie dust.

"Okay... what does it do?"

"You put it on, think of a happy thought, and it enables you to fly," Teal'c informed him.

Jack turned to Daniel, who was just as speechless as he was. They had a silent 'you tell him,' 'no you tell him' argument for several minutes, and finally Daniel groaned and said, "All right, fine. Um, Teal'c, you know that dust won't really make Sam able to fly, don't you?"

"Of course, Daniel Jackson. It is merely a child's story. This is still a good gift for Major Carter, is it not?"

"Yeah, great gift, Teal'c!" Jack said, clapping him on the shoulder, pleased that there wasn't going to be an even bigger public scene about crushing Teal'c's imagination or something equally horrible than they were already making simply by being there.

"Okay, meet us in front of that bath bomb store when you're done paying," Jack said quickly, hurrying out to meet Janet, Sam, and Cassie before they all ended up separated.

Reunited, the group moved on to a giant candy store. Janet insisted on keeping all the candy Cassie, Daniel, and Jack bought, telling them they couldn't have it until after lunch. Jack grumbled at being lumped in with the 'children,' then Daniel grumbled that Jack had lumped _him _in with Cassie as 'the children' then Cassie pointed out that she wasn't a child anymore...

Sam put a stop to it by leading them into a magic shop, where they watched a magician doing tricks for a while. Jack bought a deck of trick cards, hoping that if he didn't bust them out for a while everyone else would have forgotten about them. Or he could always use them on Hammond... maybe Thor...

Teal'c bought some juggling balls, which made Jack laugh and wink. Everyone else tried to find out why, but neither would say.

"Oh, the next store is one of the ones I was talking about before, sir," Sam said with a slightly nervous smile.

"Cool."

Cassie, who also knew what store Sam was talking about, decided it would be good if the rest of them disappeared for a bit. Putting on her best whiny voice, she said, "I don't want to go in there, it'll be so boring. Let's go down to DisneyQuest, Jack and Sam can meet us there."

"What's DisneyQuest?" Daniel asked.

"Indoor Interactive Theme Park," Cassie explained.

"What's DisneyQuest?" Jack repeated.

Cassie laughed and translated, "Really, really cool arcade."

"Sweet."

"Yeah. Come on, Mom, I bet they have the dancing game and you still seem to be under the misguided impression you can beat me..."

"All right," Janet agreed. "I'll go down there with you, but Daniel and Teal'c might not want to..."

"Teal'c, I'm sure they'll have some Star Wars games... and Daniel, you can take on the winner out of me and Mom..."

"I don't think so..." Daniel started, embarrassed.

"Fine, you can watch and hold our stuff then, come on!" Cassie looped her arm through his and practically dragged him off. Janet and Teal'c glanced at Sam and Jack, shrugged, and hurried off after them.

"Geez, Carter, what the hell kind of store are you taking me to?" Jack finally asked.

Blushing slightly, she turned him around and pointed. Sosa Family Cigars.

"Cigars? Cool! Wait, how did you know I like cigars?"

Blushing even more, she shrugged and said, "My dad likes them."

"And that explains... nothing," Jack said as he held the door open and they went inside. He inhaled the familiar scent as they entered the store. This was very cool. Very un-Disney.

"Well, I don't really know much about cigars, but I wanted to get some for my dad for a gift once, right after he became a... an ambassador," she said quickly, noticing that one of the employees was coming over to speak to them. "So I knew he couldn't really get them anymore but I didn't know what kind to get, so I asked General Hammond. He said I should talk to you because you smoke them and he doesn't, but that if I wanted to know my dad's own personal preferences, he thought he could help me out. I guess I just never brought it up."

"Oh. Cool. Do you remember which kind your dad liked? I can probably help you pick out something similar here if you want."

"Yeah, I think so..."

It took a long time in the cigar store. They talked to one of the friendly owners, Jack took a while making his own selections, then the two of them helped Sam settle on something for her dad.

"Very cool, Carter," Jack said, smiling at her as they left the store. "I take back all those horrible thoughts I was having when we were in that perfume store."

"It wasn't a _perfume _store, Colonel," Sam objected mildly.

"Whatever."

"Well, if you liked that one, I think you'll really like this one right next to it..." she directed his attention to the awning and he craned his neck to read the name.

Magnetron Magnetz.

"The entire store is magnets!" she said happily, yanking open the door and waiting for him to go inside. "What?" she asked self-consciously at the look on his face. "It's kind of stupid, isn't it?" she hedged. "I know, I just thought of how you're always joking about magnets being responsible for everything, and with Maggie, you know..." she trailed off.

Jack recovered from the frozen way he was gazing at her and finally realized that she was completely misconstruing his immobility and silence. Which was, all things considered, probably a very good thing. He had always been attracted to her, that was a given that they both knew at this point, and on several occasions had found himself having to very actively fight the urge to crush her to him and kiss her until... well until something happened, he never really let himself think beyond that.

He supposed the fact that just last night, he _had _kissed her probably had a lot to do with it, but the fact was that at the moment he was finding himself incapable of thinking of anything else. In such a stupid place too. Standing in front of a store that sold magnets? At Disney World? In the middle of the day? When she was wearing mouse ears? He was clearly a seriously disturbed man.

He finally forced his head to clear, or clear enough that he could move and speak without being a danger to anybody's military career, and decided the best course of action was to deny everything. No, he had _not_ been standing there in the middle of the pavement looking catatonic for the past several moments. He grinned and said, "Excellent," in his Mr. Burns voice, and followed Sam into the store, also pointedly ignoring the 'have you finally gone completely nuts' look she was giving him.

Once inside the store, there were plenty of distractions. A store full of magnets actually was quite interesting to him. He figured he probably looked about like Sam, Janet, and Cassie had looked in the bath bomb place, all excited and looking in lots of places at once, but he didn't care. "Oh look!" he pointed and dragged Sam by the elbow over to a bunch of Wizard of Oz refrigerator magnets.

When they finally made their way to the cash register half an hour later, he noticed she was holding something with the front to her chest so he couldn't see what it was. "What's that?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Come on, what is it?"

"You'll see it eventually."

"When?"

"Later."

"I can order you, you know."

"Not at Disney World."

"Hmm... maybe I can't give you an official order, but I think if I tried it, you'd probably answer me anyways," he challenged.

She sighed. "You're right. It's a set of play magnets."

"Huh?"

"Well it's meant to be for children," she said, showing him the package. Ooh, it had some sort of magnet-wand thing, and bunches of different magnets to be picked up and moved around... he reached out for it as he handed over his purchases to the cashiers.

"It's not for you, it's for me," she objected, refusing to turn it over.

"Aw..."

"Actually, it's for my lab," she said pointedly. "You've gotten bored with the other non-dangerous items in there, I figured I needed to get some new toys."

"Still upset that I broke that thing, are ya?" he asked, amused. Obviously she wasn't really upset about it if she was buying him cool new toys to play with, which, as far as he was concerned, was an open invitation for him to come into her lab and play with them. Whether or not she meant them that way, he didn't really care.

"Well, it would have been nice if I'd had a chance to figure out what it was first," she almost-whined (Carter never _really _whined), but she was laughing.

"I think I learned my lesson from General Hammond about that one anyway," Jack muttered.

She gave him a sceptical look and he said, "Okay, maybe not learned it completely but... he was not a happy camper. He asked me if I knew what 'look and don't touch' meant and why I couldn't seem to grasp the concept when it came to 'tempting things I might find in your lab.' I don't know if he meant it to sound suggestive or not, but I had to bite my tongue pretty hard to keep from laughing or saying something that he _really _wouldn't have found funny."

Sam blushed slightly as she handed over a few bills to the cashier and grabbed her bag.

Jack smirked as he grabbed his own bag of purchases – his fridge and any other magnetic surface he could find were going to be all dressed up when he got home.

"Well, as of last night I don't seem to remember your tongue being permanently damaged, sir," she said casually as she walked past him out of the store. He stared at the back of her head for several moments. Had she really just said that?

"Colonel? If we go meet everyone now we'll have time to play a few games before we all head over to lunch," she called from the doorway, when he had failed to follow her.

Okay, he wasn't even going to try to sort out all the thoughts that ran through his head at that.

Quickly recovering his equilibrium, he settled his customary smirk in place as he exited the store, and enthusiastically said, "Carter, have I told you how much I LOVE magnets?"

She grinned and they headed off to meet everyone else.


	9. Home Again

A/N: I really appreciate everyone weighing in on the Pete issue. It looks like my original plan is the favorite, which is convenient for me. I also have especially appreciated everyone's input on this entire story, which has been the hardest and most disappointing for me to write for a variety of reasons. I'm extremely glad to finally be done with it!

Ch 9: Home Again

It was all Carter's fault. Jack was sure of it. Well, actually, if he wanted to be fair about it, it was really Teal'c's fault. But it was a lot harder to openly blame things on Teal'c. Mainly because his biceps were bigger than Jack's thighs.

So, Jack had decided it was Carter's fault they very nearly missed their flight home. After all, she had been the one to convince him they had time to let Teal'c ride the teacups one more time.

Jack, who had missed Teal'c on the teacups but heard the story from Cassie, had thought she was exaggerating. As it turned out, she quite obviously wasn't. She rode the teacups with Teal'c once more and Jack almost threw up just from _watching _them go that fast.

Then they had to run to their hotel, pay the driver extra to speed to the airport, and use their Air Force credentials to cut in all the airport lines before running down to the proper gate.

They had made it, barely. The plane full of people glared at them as they made their way to their seats. They had two consecutive rows of three. Apparently feeling a bit sad that their week-long celebration was coming to an end, the science twins were once again joined at the hip and slid into one of the rows without any arguments over who would sit with whom.

Jack shrugged and took the last seat in that row, next to Sam. It was ridiculous because aside from Teal'c, they were the three tallest people there, and none of them had any leg room whatsoever, although Sam _was _capable of curling up into a very small ball when she wanted to. Jack had seen her do this many times, and also knew that she did _not _think being called a 'roly-poly' was funny at all.

Teal'c, Cassie, and Janet took the row in front of them, Cassie looking out the window and Teal'c in the aisle seat so he could stretch his legs. The plane made Daniel's allergies act up immediately after take-off. Janet wordlessly passed him two Benadryl tablets. He swallowed them and ten minutes later was using Sam as a security blanket, completely zonked with his head on her shoulder and his arm functioning as a second seat belt.

"Is he _drooling _on you?" Jack asked incredulously, leaning around her to try to see. Daniel's glasses were hanging off of his ear. Jack removed them, folded them up, and stuck them in Daniel's shirt pocket.

"It's okay," Sam said absently, pushing Daniel's head to a slightly more comfortable position (for her) on her shoulder. "I don't mind."

She watched the way her CO was eyeing her other shoulder (and yawning) warily. She didn't mind Daniel, but seriously doubted she could handle both of them using her as a pillow at once. That would just be too weird. Apparently, he came to the same conclusion, because he turned his attention back to his tray table and pulled out the trick deck of cards he bought in the magic shop.

"So I'll drop you off last so I can get Maggie, okay?" Jack said as he quietly shuffled the cards, completely changing the conversation.

"Oh," she said, surprised and a bit disappointed. True, Maggie was technically his dog. But Sam really liked having her around too. Often when they got in late, Sam would keep Maggie an extra day and Jack would come get her the next day, in the morning or after work if it wasn't the weekend. "Yeah, of course, that's fine."

"Carter?"

"Well, it's going to be quite late by the time we drive from the airport back to Colorado Springs and you drop Teal'c back at the base, and Jan and Cass, _and _Daniel, so if you're too tired..."

"Carter, I have to drop you off at your house anyway, it'll take about two extra minutes for me to go in and get Mags."

"Yeah. Good point."

"Okay, pick a card, any card," Jack offered, fanning them out and holding them out to her.

She took one and sighed. "You are aware that I know this is a trick deck, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm practicing for Thor's next visit. Come on, just humor me."

She glanced at the card and put it back in the deck. Daniel let out a loud snore, shifted to a slightly different position, and her shoulder dampened in a new spot with what she very much hoped was just drool. Daniel-drool she could handle. Daniel-snot was another matter altogether. It was going to be a long flight.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

It was a long flight, and a long drive back home. But as soon as they left the airport, Jack had wisely stopped at the first Sonic he could find and loaded everyone up with late, unhealthy dinners and gooey ice cream concoctions. This woke everyone up and the drive passed quickly, with everyone talking about what they had done at Disney World.

Jack dropped everyone off, laughing at the prolonged goodbyes everyone seemed prone to that night. They were all going to see each other tomorrow morning, forcryinoutloud! But that would be at work, which was decidedly different from the end of a great vacation. So, sensitive to this difference, he only honked once to get Sam back in the truck in front of the Fraiser household.

Sam hugged Janet and Cassie goodbye and got back into the truck, frowning at her CO. "Was that necessary?"

"Indeed."

Sam laughed at Jack's Teal'c impression, knowing he never would have said it if Teal'c had still been in the car. "Speaking of Teal'c, I think you were right, sir."

"I'm always right, Carter." She snorted. "Okay, what was I right about this time?"

"Your 'Disney years' theory. I've never seen Teal'c have so much fun."

"Ah, but you didn't see him at the jello wrestling place."

Sam studied his profile, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. Usually she could tell. Sometimes she couldn't. This was one of those times. Finally, curiosity got the better of her and she had to ask. "Did you..."

"Yup," he answered quickly, not bothering to let her finish the question or bothering to hide the grin on his face.

She rolled her eyes and tried very hard not to smile.

They quickly reached her house, as she only lived a few blocks over from Janet. Jack shut off his truck and got out and reached over into the bed of the truck to grab Sam's bag. By the time he had done this, she had already reached the front porch and was opening the door.

As soon as Sam opened the door, she was knocked flat on her back by a very excited Golden Retriever, who proceeded to pin her to the ground and lick her to death, covering her with much more drool than Daniel had managed on the plane.

"Maggie, let me up, I can't even pet you like this!" Sam objected. When the dog was this excited, there was little anybody could do but wait until she calmed down a bit on her own. Luckily, Jack quickly joined her on the porch, and as soon as Maggie spotted him, she started jumping up at him instead.

He set down Sam's bag and pulled her to her feet with one hand, the other trying to keep Maggie from jumping on her anymore. "Okay?"

"Yeah."

The dog jumped around excitedly for a few more moments, then ran out into the yard to pee. "Come on, Maggie, let's go inside and get your leash," Jack called.

They all went inside, Sam flipping on the lights. Quarks, her cat, was waiting inside, sitting and flicking his tail around, which was his version of the excitement Maggie was still displaying. "Colonel, have you seen Quarks's new trick?" Sam asked suddenly.

"No, let's see it."

Sam patted her left shoulder and Quarks leapt up into her arms.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive. How'd you manage that?"

"It took a lot of catnip pinned to my shoulder."

Jack laughed and grabbed Maggie's collar, as she was getting jealous of the attention Quarks was receiving and trying to jump on Sam again.

"Want to hear my new theory on cats and dogs?"

"Sure," Sam said absently, petting Quarks a bit more and then pressing him into Jack's arms.

Jack looked down at the cat. He never really thought Quarks cared much for greeting him, and the feeling was pretty much mutual, but apparently it Sam did not concur, so Jack continued to hold the cat as he followed her into the kitchen, where she turned on the light and started a pot of coffee.

"Okay, well, you of course know that Quarks and Maggie are both really just people in animal bodies, right?"

"Of course," she said, in the same tone of voice she always used when he described the fish in his lake.

It was an ongoing joke that Cassie and Janet particularly found funny, that both Jack and Sam treated their animals like people. With Jack, at least, it was definitely true.

"Right. Well, okay, so I've just refined that a little bit. The difference between dogs and cats are that dogs are always little kids, and cats are always teenagers."

"I see."

"So dogs are always in a good mood, happy to see you, ready to play, whatever. Like the little kid who waits by the door for their dad to get home from work and runs up to greet him. But then cats are like moody teenagers... everything has to be on their own terms, or they'll come to you when they want something."

"Okay, that works for puppies, dogs, and cats, but what about kittens?"

"Wu..." Jack frowned and thought for a moment. "Well, um, see..."

Sam raised an eyebrow, Teal'c-style, and started pouring coffee. The doorbell rang.

"It's a little late for visitors, isn't it, Major Carter?" he asked, sounding uncannily like her father, which was disturbing on many levels and best to avoid thinking about altogether.

"You're here, sir," Sam pointed out as they headed to the door. Maggie had already beat them there and was barking. "Maybe it's Morgan or something... I'll have to dig around in my bag for the gift I brought him."

"Mine's out in the truck," Jack added.

Sam opened the door and blinked in surprise. It was Pete.

"Pete, what are you doing here?" she asked. She'd barely been home ten minutes, it was kind of creepy that he had already showed up. Not to mention the fact that she'd assumed he'd gone back to Denver when he found out she wasn't in Colorado Springs all weekend.

Maggie was standing between Sam's leg and the doorframe, growling at Pete, her teeth bared. She was a very sweet dog, but fiercely protective of the people she knew.

"What's with the dog, I thought you had a cat," Pete said, eyeing the dog carefully, unwilling to take a step closer.

"The dog's mine!" Jack called cheerfully from a few steps behind Sam, waving over her head at Pete. Sam closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door briefly, before opening it up all the way.

"Colonel O'Neill's dog stays here when we're out of town, so that Cassie or the little boy down the street that watches Maggie and Quarks only has to make one stop," Sam explained.

Maggie was still growling at Pete, and starting to creep towards him since Sam had opened the door further.

"Um, Colonel O'Neill, do you mind calling off your dog?" Pete asked, getting even more nervous.

"She listens to Carter way better than me," Jack said with an unconcerned shrug. "She's got the Dr. Dolittle routine nailed."

Sam shot him a look and said quietly, "It's okay, Maggie."

The dog stopped moving forward and growling, but she was still glaring at Pete.

"Magnet!" Sam said, a little more firmly. Maggie relaxed, and Sam scratched her ears, pulling her out of the way by her collar to let Pete in.

"So, Pete, what brings you by at this late hour?" Jack asked. "Just in the neighborhood? I thought you lived in Denver."

He had never told Sam that Pete had run a background check on her. He wanted to, very much so, but felt like he was a little too involved in the situation to be the one to bring that up. Maybe he'd try to get Hammond to do it, that could work.

"I do. I was... here for the weekend before I realized Sam was going to be out of town. So I figured I'd stay around until she got in tonight, and drive back early tomorrow morning," Pete told him, turning his attention to Sam as she closed the door. "Hi, Sam." He stepped towards her to kiss her but Maggie wasn't about to allow that. Jack had to hide a smile as his dog put herself between Pete and Sam and gave a low, warning growl.

"She's uh, not so fond of strangers, I see," Pete said, stepping back a little.

"No," Jack said evenly. "And she's very protective of her people."

Pete looked back and forth between them, looking a bit scared.

"Sir, your coffee is getting cold," Sam said pointedly, not-so-subtly hinting for him to butt out of the conversation for a minute.

"So it is, Carter," he said, looking down at Quarks. "Come on, Quarky." He patted his left shoulder like Carter had done, and was shocked when the cat actually did leap up into his arms. He caught him easily and grinned at Carter. "Wow, it worked! You ARE Dr. Dolittle."

She smiled and said, "Apparently if you have enough catnip you can get him to do pretty much whatever you want."

"Interesting," Jack commented as he headed for the kitchen. "So, Quarks, how much would it take to get you to start typing up my reports for me, huh pal?" He fawned attention on the cat all the way into the kitchen, wondering if the cat, and possibly Maggie and Sam as well, now thought he was completely insane.

As soon as he was gone, Sam lowered her voice and said, "Pete, I didn't tell you what time I'd be home. Have you been staking out my house or something?"

"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous!" Pete said defensively. "I wanted to surprise you, but when I tried to get the spare key under your mat on Friday, the dog started barking and scratching at the window, so I went and stayed at a hotel. I just called the airport and found out what time the only flight in tonight from Orlando landed, then added on a couple hours travel time from the airport to here."

"Oh."

Pete looked down at the dog again. Maggie wasn't growling at him anymore, but he got the distinct impression that if he took one more step towards Sam again, she would. And she also seemed to be running out of patience.

"What is with that dog?"

"She just hasn't seen me in a while."

"She _is _Colonel O'Neill's dog, right? Not yours?"

"Of course. I explained that already. But I gave her to him, and she sort of bonded to Quarks and me early on. Come on, I'll pour you a cup of coffee, then you can go." She hoped the offer of coffee would cushion the hint that he was _not _invited to spend the night. It was just a little bit too weird that he showed up so late at night and was planning on leaving so early in the morning.

It clearly meant they'd be doing nothing but sleeping together (in the euphemistic sense.) Not only was she not comfortable with him waiting around all weekend just for _that_, but the fact that her CO had heard all of that as well, combined with how tired she was from the entire vacation... she really could not have been _less _in the mood.

"Go? But..."

"I'm sorry if you hung around here all weekend to see me tonight, Pete, but if you'd asked me ahead of time I would have told you the truth – I'm just way too tired for company. I literally just walked in the door, I have tons of unpacking to do, and I have to be at work very early in the morning. Come on, I'll get you some coffee."

Perhaps sensing he should probably be grateful that she wasn't making a bigger deal out of his surprise appearance, Pete nodded and followed her into the kitchen.

Jack sat on the kitchen counter with his coffee mug next to him, still petting Quarks, who was unused to receiving so much attention from him unless the two of them happened to be alone, which didn't happen often. He 'couldn't help but overhear' the conversation between Sam and Pete (especially since he was straining to hear every word they were saying), and was really, really happy the guy wasn't going to be having a sleepover with his 2IC tonight.

Still, he masked his features as they entered the kitchen, although from the way Sam squinted at him in the split second she caught his eye, he was pretty sure she knew what he was thinking. Hey, he was only human. And he _was _being on his best behavior. So far, at least, he had resisted the urge to chant, 'I kissed Carter, I kissed Carter.' Pete probably wouldn't think that was very funny. Sam definitely wouldn't.

"Have a seat, Pete," Sam said as she headed to the coffee pot.

"You're a poet," Jack commented as he reached behind himself, opened the cabinet next to his head, grabbed another cup, and handed it to her all without seeming to take his attention off of Quarks. He didn't look at Pete, but he hoped Pete had noticed that.

He did glance at his 2IC out of the corner of his eye and saw that she had most definitely noticed what he was doing. Half-expecting her to be mad, he was surprised when the corners of her mouth turned up in the slightest hint of a smile as he shut the cabinet a little bit louder than a normal person would.

"Um, cream or sugar?" Sam called to him. "Or both?"

"Just sugar," Pete called. Figured. Cop. Still, Jack had another small party in his head at the fact that she didn't know how he liked his coffee. He reached back into the cabinet for the sugar bowl and handed it to her.

"Thanks."

"Yeahsureyoubetcha," he replied, taking control of the coffee pot to refill his cup while she added sugar to Pete's. She slid her cup down to him for a refill as well. While he poured, she took Pete his cup and went to the fridge for her creamer.

"Damn, it expired while I was gone." She opened the carton anyway and sniffed it experimentally. Jack knew, from experience, that both she and Daniel, if they really wanted coffee, were not above using creamer a bit past its expiration date. He had always found that very gross and disturbing, but they never listened.

Suddenly he remembered something.

"Hang on..." Hopping off the counter, he started feeling around in various pockets. Since he was wearing a button down shirt and cargo pants, he had a lot of pockets.

"You carry creamer around on you?" Pete asked.

Sam was staring at Jack incredulously as he pulled various items out of his pockets. Aside from the usual wallet, keys, and cell phone, he also found a yo-yo, a chewed up pencil, a pocket knife, the trick deck of cards, a handful of humbugs, a map from the Magic Kingdom, four receipts, and finally, two packages of creamer from their hotel.

"You drink your coffee black, why would you bring this home?" Sam asked as he tossed them to her and started filling his pockets back up.

"Daniel was obsessed with it, I was going to give it to him tomorrow at breakfast. But what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Thanks," Sam said, and began adding it carefully to her coffee. While she hadn't been _as _obsessed as Daniel with whatever special Disney creamer they used, it _was _really good.

"Oh, Pete, here, pick a card!" Jack said suddenly, glad to have someone to try out his magic card tricks on, even if it _was _Pete.

Sam picked up Quarks, pet him a bit, and set him down on the ground. He wasn't safe around coffee with cream in it, as he had the tendency to stick his whole head into the cup for a sample, rendering it completely undrinkable. Quarks crossed the kitchen, leapt up onto the chair next to the one Jack had occupied, and got up onto the table.

He stealthily inspected Jack's cup and even looked like he was thinking about tasting it just to make sure it didn't contain any dairy products, but Jack, in the middle of a magic trick, moved the cat to his lap before his coffee could be violated, muttering, "Nice try there, Quarks. Go play with Magnet."

Magnet was still not in the mood to play, which Quarks, of course, already knew. She was sitting next to Sam, perfectly friendly and wagging her tail in response to Sam's petting, but she still considered herself 'on duty,' and wasn't going to be distracted from guarding her Sam, not even by her best buddy Quarks.

"You guys give your pets weird names," Pete commented as he watched Jack do another magic trick.

Jack and Sam looked at each other. Jack winked and turned his attention back to his cards. "Yeah, that's a scientist for ya," he commented.

Sam rolled her eyes but refused to take the bait.

"Wow, how'd you do that?" Pete asked, clearly impressed with whatever it was Jack was doing with the cards – Sam couldn't see from where she was leaning against the counter.

"Magic. Works better with my black cat assistant," Jack commented, roughly petting the cat in his lap.

Sam laughed and shook her head, taking her coffee over to the table to watch the 'magic show.' Of all the possible ways she could have predicted this day might end, none of them would ever have involved sitting in her kitchen in the middle of the night, watching Jack entertain Pete with card tricks. She'd give them both one more cup of coffee, send them home, and then probably spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what the hell she was doing.

The end.

A/N: Final installment is next - Birthday Traditions 8. Story ID: 2451144


End file.
